AP Deputy Speaker’s Convoy Attacked in Akividu, 3 Injured
Senior police officials have booked a case and posted a picket in Akividu as a precautionary measure.
Kakinada:The convoy of AP deputy speaker K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju, MLA from Undi, came under attack from a group of people shouting “Jai Bhim” slogans after he garlanded the idol of Lord Rama at a temple in Pedapeta area of Akividu in West Godavari district on the occasion of Sri Rama Navami on Friday.
Sources said the group initially tried to prevent the deputy speaker from garlanding Lord Rama’s Idol. However, he garlanded the statue and got into his car. As the vehicle started leaving, the group attacked the convoy with stones, nails and sticks, injuring three persons.
However, police cleared the way for the convoy and ensured that Raghu Ramakrishna Raju left safely. The injured have been shifted to a hospital in Bhimavaram.
Senior police officials have booked a case and posted a picket in Akividu as a precautionary measure.
Sources said a dispute has been going on at the temple for the past one month. The temple had been constructed in 1932 in the Pedapeta area. Hindus have continued to perform poojas at the temple. On every Sri Rama Navami festival, Hindus offer grand poojas to Lord Rama and distribute jaggery juice and moong dal to devotees.
According to people of the village, Raghu Ramakrishna Raju has decided to re-build a grand temple for Lord Sri Rama with stone. But people living in the area are opposing the reconstruction. They point out that the presiding deity of the temple is actually Goddess Gonchalamma, who is their caste-Goddess. They used to pray to her till they converted to Christianity.
The Pedapeta people say they do not want a grand temple within their area, which could lead to trouble in the future. However, it is said, Raghu Ramakrishna Raju is insistent on constructing the temple.
On Friday, when the deputy speaker came to the temple, two Dalit women reportedly approached him and asked him not to garland the Rama idol in the temple. But he went on to garland the idol. The attack on his convoy started as he started leaving the place.
Raghu Ramakrishna Raju later told media that poojas are being regularly performed at the temple. He maintained that the attack on him is the handiwork of people who do not belong to the area.
“I came to garland Lord Rama’s statue on the occasion of Sri Rama Navami festival. People of other religions are directing me not to garland the statue. I do not understand their stand. There is a huge conspiracy behind the incident that too amidst police security.”
The deputy speaker demanded that the state government launch a detailed probe into the incident and expose the conspiracy. “Devotees of Rama belonging to the two Telugu States will not keep silent when people of other religions are trying to dictate how to conduct rituals at Hindu temples,” he declared.
