The Tirupati laddu is at the centre of controversy this week after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu claimed that animal fat was found in the ‘Laddu Prasadam’ made at the Tirumala temple. This controversy has caught the popular imagination and some Hindu organisations have renewed a demand to free temples from government control. What is the larger political impact of the controversy? Nistula Hebbar explains.