Telangana: TSRTC Staff Invoke Christian Prayer For New Bus Service From Asifabad To Shirdi

A video shared on Twitter, of a TRSTC (Telangana state road transportation corporation) bus from Asifabad, Telangana to Shirdi, Maharashtra with a Telangana state government bus driver, invoking a Christian prayer/blessing, has sparked some online debate. The woman, a Telangana state government employee, is seen indulging in a Christian prayer in Telugu, requesting a safe bus journey for the passengers and their families, the drivers and their families, while she and several people around her, stand with eyes closed and faces turned downward in a typical prayer pose. The manner in which the prayer is said, is typical of those conducted in churches.

The TSRTC had recently launched a new, direct bus service from Asifibad town in Kumaram Bheem Asifabad district, Telangana to the pilgrim town of Shirdi, Maharashtra said to take around nineteen to twenty hours by road. The government employee is heard asking “prabhu” for blessings for the newly inaugurated bus service (“prabhu” is a popular mononymous reference to Jesus, in several Indian languages).

“We pray you to keep this newly launched Asifabad-Shirdi RTC bus in your control, and bless all the passengers a safe journey. Make sure that no obstacles be faced by them during their journey. Keeb the bus drivers, their families, their children in your notice.”, the lady can be heard praying.

Asifabad is the district headquarters for Kumaram Bheem Asifabad district in Telangana state, named in honour of the Telugu “Gond” tribal leader and freedom fighter, Komaram Bheem, who valiantly resisted and fought the rule of the Hyderabad Nizam as well as that of the British from 1928-1940. The Gonds were classified as a scheduled tribe (ST), post Indian Independence.

Komaram Bheem Asifabad district is the second most backward district in India, according to the 2018 NITI Aayog ranking and has a high percentage of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who make up 15.82% and 25.91% of the district’s population respectively. It is in this context that a Telangana state government employee’s Christian prayer, becomes a worrisome subject of discussion, considering the much debated topic of conversions and missionary activities amongst gullible, economically weaker sections of society. Netizens have questioned the state government employee’s open and brazen preference for Christian prayers on a bus route to a Hindu pilgrimage centre.

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