Irrespective of party in power, temple offences regular feature in Andhra

Amaravati, Jan 14 : Irrespective of the government of the day or the political party in power, temple offences occurred in Andhra Pradesh almost every year in the past five years, as per the statistics shared by Director General of Police (DGP) Gautam Sawang on Wednesday.
Under the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government, 163 temple offences were reported in 2015, 139 in 2017, 123 in 2018 and 177 in 2019 when the government transitioned to the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).
In 2020, a year which saw an uproar following the chariot burning at the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Antarvedi, there were 143 alleged temple offences and six more in 2021 until now.
The offences included idol desecration and theft, ornaments theft, digging temple premises, temple demolition and chariot burning.
Major incidents in the alleged temple attacks in 2020 and 2021 under the YSRCP government included 38 cases of temple theft and desecration, two chariot burnings and four temple digging cases, totalling 44 incidents.
Incidentally, as many as seven cases in these 44 incidents were false propaganda and wear and tear damage, leading to the arrest of nine people.