Foot Washing of Miss World Contestants at Telangana Temple Creates Public Outrage

Hyderabad, May 15 – A video showing the feet of Miss World 2025 contestants being washed before entering Ramappa Temple in Telangana has sparked outrage. Opposition parties BRS and BJP called it an insult to the pride and self-respect of the people of Telangana.

Women volunteers were seen washing and wiping the feet of contestants from 109 countries before they entered the ancient Ramappa Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Mulugu district. This was part of a Miss World pageant event.

The video quickly spread on social media, where people criticized it as disrespectful and even "colonial" in nature. Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy said this act reminded him of the British era and called it humiliating. He blamed the Congress government for insulting Indian women, especially by doing this inside a sacred temple.

The BRS also strongly opposed the act, saying the Congress government had hurt Telangana’s pride. Former ministers and MLAs from BRS claimed that local Dalit and tribal women were forced to wash the feet of foreign contestants. They wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi, asking her to intervene and apologize to the women of Telangana.

The letter stated that such acts damage the dignity of women and warned that this could cause serious backlash from the people of Telangana. The BRS demanded that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy issue a public apology and take steps to protect the state’s cultural values.