ANANTAPUR: Chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) B. Karunakar Reddy has said that they are organising mass marriages to create a sense of belonging in the lower strata followers of Hindu religion and also to wipe out the feeling of being marginalised.

Participating in `meet-the-press' programme arranged by the district unit of Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists here on Thursday, he said mass marriages was an effort to reinstate faith in the religion among the less privileged .

Religious publicity

He mentioned that there were families who had converted to other religions even for a paltry financial benefit of Rs. 100 to 200. They had the feeling that Hindu religion nurtured only the rich and affluent sections and the poor were not taken care of.

Stating that a lion's share of Lord Venkateswara's income was meant for `dharma pracharam' (religious publicity) the TTD chairman said the Dharma Prachara Parishad was renamed as Hindu Dharma Prachara Parishad as per the wishes of spiritual leaders. The budget allocation was increased to Rs. 20 crores.

The board was ready to spend even Rs. 200 crores for the purpose, he said. The TTD had also planned to link itself with 40,000 temples in the State and form bhajan mandalis in all the temples to protect our cultural heritage.

Each bhajan mandali would be given bhajan instruments worth Rs. 3,000. Spending some time in religious-cum-cultural activities would protect our tradition, he said.

Religious activities

On the issue of alleged evangelical activities on Tirumala, Mr. Karunakar Reddy said it was only a misinformation campaign and whoever was carrying it out was doing a great disservice to Hinduism.

There was also a proposal to install Lord's idols in all TTD kalyana mandapams to arrange puja once in a day and conduct spiritual discourses frequently.

The TTD was also setting up `Sravanam' hospital for hearing-impaired children with Rs. 30 crores. Later, he participated in the betrothal ceremony of 10 couples registered for mass marriage programme.

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