Miss World Controversy: Seethakka Defends Tradition of Washing Contestants’ Feet

Days after a controversy erupted over women allegedly washing the feet of Miss World contestants, Telangana Minister for Women and Child Welfare, Dansari Anasuya, fondly known as Seethakka, slammed the Opposition BRS for politicizing the issue.

She pointed out that it is Indian culture to offer guests water to wash their feet before entering a temple. Specifically citing Adilabad, Seethakka said women from this region traditionally help guests wash their feet.

“One of the volunteers, appointed by the event organizing agency, helped a contestant wash her feet. Of the 33 female volunteers assigned to as many contestants, only one chose to follow the tradition of Adilabad. We don’t know why she did that. Neither any senior officer nor I were present there,” the Minister explained.

Accusing the BRS of making a mountain out of a molehill, Seethakka demanded to know what authority the pink party had to comment on ‘disrespect to Telangana.’

“They removed ‘Telangana’ from their party name and changed it to Bharat Rashtra Samithi. What right do they have to speak of humiliating the State?” she asked.

India is hosting the Miss World pageant this year in Telangana. As part of the event, contestants from 100 countries have arrived in the city. While the program was inaugurated on May 10 in Hyderabad, it will conclude with a grand ceremony on May 31.

Ahead of the finale, the Telangana Tourism Department has organized several activities for the contestants, including visits to Telangana's most revered temples—the Ramappa Temple in Mulugu district, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the famed Thousand Pillar Temple in Warangal.

In a video shared by Union Minister Kishan Reddy on X, a local woman was seen helping a Miss World aspirant wash her feet and pat them dry with a towel. Terming it a shocking display of servility, he lashed out at the Telangana Congress government for making local women wash and wipe the feet of Miss World contestants.

Describing it as a “humiliating act that reeks of a colonial-era mindset,” he said this occurred within the sanctity of the Ramappa Temple, near the revered shrines of the divine Goddesses Sammakka and Saralamma.

“Congress party’s century-old legacy of making Indians kneel before foreigners to appease their high command is evident. Revanth Reddy, in his desperate bid to impress Delhi bosses, has trampled on the dignity and self-respect of Indian women. The Congress national leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi should tender an unconditional apology to Telangana women for blasphemy and for surrendering the dignity, culture, and self-respect of our Nari Shakti,” he added.

Responding to a similar video shared on the microblogging platform, BRS Working President and former Minister KT Rama Rao said, “Congress CM has officially lost his mind.”

In a shocking display of servility, the Telangana Congress government made local women wash and wipe the feet of Miss World contestants, a humiliating act that reeks of colonial-era mindset. Further, this was done within the sanctity of the Ramappa Temple and in an area in close… pic.twitter.com/ha0xRrTCYr

— G Kishan Reddy (@kishanreddybjp) May 15, 2025