Editorial: Naidu blows a dog-whistle

Chandrababu Naidu is playing the unlikely role of demagogue by accusing his predecessor regime of laxity over the use of adulterated ingredients in the making of the Tirupati laddu, which is considered blessed by worshippers of Venkateswara. Speaking at a meeting to celebrate the first 100 days of the NDA government in Andhra Pradesh, the CM said lab tests done a few weeks after his coalition came to power have shown that the ghee supplied to the Tirumala Tirupati temple for the making of its famed laddus contained traces of non-bovine fats. His adherents in the Telugu Desam Party and his allies in the BJP have picked up the refrain to insinuate that this was part of a grand design by the previous government of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, a Christian, to allow contamination of Hindu traditions.

Naidu is not the typical demagogue—but quite the opportunist for any plums on offer—but this has the making of the classical Hindutva trope. There is a sacramental object, there is sacrilege, and there is the Other to scapegoat. Blared from an important politician’s megaphone, it becomes a story for the ready nether world of trolls commanded by the BJP to amplify. Within a week, prime-time debates and WhatsApp forwards have kicked the issue every which way but the truth, reducing reason to tatters.

There are at least three degrees of separation between the bald facts of the case and the claim of sacrilege being made by the Hindutva cohort. First, results of the tests carried out by the Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock & Food, a laboratory under the National Dairy Development Board, conclusively state only that there were ‘foreign fats’ in the ghee samples provided by the temple. These contaminants could be from vegetable sources such as palm oil, soybean and wheat germ or just as well from animal sources such as beef tallow or lard.

Secondly, the trace concentrations of foreign fats found in the ghee could have come from the feed fed to cows in the supplier dairy rather from a sacrilegious workshop. As someone whose family owns a huge dairy company, Naidu must know that commercial feed contains nutrients from the likes of meat, bone and fish meal, tallow and lard. The composition of milk fat in dairy cows is significantly influenced by the types of fats included in their diets. Various dietary fats can affect both the quantity and quality of milk fat produced, with implications for its fatty acid profile.

Third, detection of adulterants in ghee supplied to the temple happens all the time, regardless of which party is in power. The temple administration is famously finicky about the purity of its traditions, be it the ingredients of its laddu or the clothing worn to the presence of the deity. It requires all its suppliers to have certification from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) and ensure that their products, including ghee, meet specific mandated standards.

What is notable is that Naidu has taken it upon himself to blow a well-worn Hindutva dogwhistle. It is odd that he should be taking cues from his junior ally’s playbook when he is supposed to be the master of the coalition. Is this the man the nation looks to to be the lion tamer? Or is he just cowering from the beast, fearful of losing his turf to it?