Amid 'purification', Naidu's push for over 200 liquor shops in Tirupati raises eyebrows

Amid the uproar over the sanctity of the Tirumala Temple over allegations of adulterated ghee in laddu prasadam, Andhra Pradesh announced a liquor policy that accorded top priority to the sales of the booze in Tirupati district. For devotees, Tirumala and Tirupati are nearly the same.

Unmindful of the popular demand and the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam’s (TTD) resolution for a liquor ban in Tirupati, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s government wants to set up as many as 227 shops in Tirupati district alone, the highest in the state.

Tirupati’s liquor shops

Tirupati town, with a population of 4.6 lakhs, will have 32 shops in the municipal area and another 12 in the rural area. This has created a furore on social media and among political circles.

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The government's new policy, announced in September, has privatized the liquor shops which were run by the government when Jaganmohan Reddy was the chief minister between 2019 and 2024.

Under the new policy, licenses will be given to 3,736 retails shops across the state. The new policy for 2024-26 will come into force from October 12.

Tirupati tops in Andhra

As far as retail outlets go, no district comes close to Tirupati. Of 26 districts, only six have more than 150 outlets. Visakhapatnam, dubbed the financial capital of Andhra Pradesh, has been allotted 155 shops. Guntur district, where capital Amaravati is located, will have 127 shops.

Barring the pilgrimage and the temple-related economy, the Tirupati district does not have any major industries or infrastructure generating funds. Nearly 80,000 to 100,000 pilgrims visit the town every day.

What Jaganmohan did

Jaganmohan Reddy, as chief minister, reduced the liquor retail vends from 4,380 to 3,500 as a first step toward imposing a total liquor ban in the state. He, however, never went beyond that. Now, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which promised to make quality liquor available to the public, has added more than 200 shops across the state.

What surprised the public was the audacity of the government to give primacy to the sale of liquor in Tirupati town while leading the campaign for purification of the Tirumala temple. The government doesn’t want to lose the huge liquor revenue the temple town that Tirupati offers to the state coffers.

Huge liquor revenue

According to an official, the 16 bars in the town fetched Rs 25 crore in tax from the government in 2023, while 27 bars elsewhere in the combined Chittoor district fetched just Rs 30 crore.

The demand that Tirupati should be made a liquor-free zone has been there for ages. But no government was keen to honour it.

Ban in Tirumala, not in Tirupati

In fact, a ban on liquor, meat consumption, gutka, and tobacco products has been in force in Tirumala since 1987. However, the governments have been reluctant to extend this to Tirupati town below the hill. Many consider Tirupati and Tirumala inseparable and want the ban extended to Tirupati as well.

BJP leader laments

Naveen Kumar Reddy, an activist and BJP leader from Tirupati, says all political parties, when in opposition, promise to make Tirupati a liquor-free zone and ignore it when in power.

“We have been fighting for the liquor ban in Tirupati. What we could achieve is very little. The road from the railway station to Alipiri at the foothills is now free from liquor shops. Shops are not permitted within 500 meters from the main road,” said Naveen, who has fought many legal battles against the TTD in courts.

Vatican-style Tirupati

In the 1980s, NT Ramarao, the TDP founder and then chief minister, thought of elevating the Tirupati-Tirumala to a Vatican-style administration. But he could not pursue it as it is fraught with many Constitutional problems.

“NTR had a dream about it. He even chose a name, Balaji Divya Kshetram, for his project, to be administered by a Supreme Council with Lord Venkateswara as Chairman and himself as Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive,” said a former IAS officer who worked with Naidu during his first stint as chief minister.

Naidu favours economy over religion

NTR’s successor N Chandrababu Naidu was swayed more by global economic changes and reforms. “Naidu favoured economic development of the state over spiritual development,” said the officer.

Naidu’s party leaders, however, never shunned the idea. After Andhra Pradesh’s bifurcation in 2014, TDP deputy chief minister KE Krishnamurthy said Naidu’s government had a plan to develop Tirupati on the lines of Vatican. But nothing happened.

Jaganmohan Reddy, who promised total prohibition in the state, was also not keen on converting Tirupati into a liquor free zone. In October 2019, months after he formed a government, the TTD board sought a ban on liquor and told the government to enact a law.

TTD wants ban in Tirupati

TTD chairman YV Subbareddy defended the move by stating that a ban was justified as Tirumala and Tirupati were separable. “In Tirumala liquor has been prohibited. As Tirupati also happens to be the prime pilgrim city, we have resolved in the board to observe total liquor ban in Tirupati also,” Reddy said. During his tenure, Jaganmohan Reddy never gave a thought to this idea.

Naidu often claims that he is a staunch devotee of Lord Venkateswara and he escaped from a Naxalite claymore mine attack in 2003 with minor injuries due to the blessings of the Lord. He used to warn YS Rajasekhar Reddy, the Congress chief minister between 2004 and 2009, and Jaganmohan Reddy against playing with Lord Venkateswara as they are bound to be punished.

Following the laddu controversy, both Chief Minister Naidu and deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan have become champions of Sanatana Dharma and guardians of the Tirumala Temple. Pawan has been more aggressive, vowing to observe penance for the alleged act of sacrilege committed by Jagan’s government.

Devotion and liquor

Such a devotion is conveniently set aside when it comes to the matter of liquor revenues, said Kundarapu Murali, president of TTD Employees Union and leader of the Centre for Indian Trade Unions, Tirupati.

“Liquor has become a primary source of revenue for the governments. Assigning the shops to private vendors is a disturbing trend of the new policy. One should not lose sight of the fact that it was Chandrababu who encouraged illegal liquor mini outlets called 'belt shops' in the state. Proliferation of 'belt shops' cannot be ruled out in the state, including Tirupati,” Murali said.