Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday rained down on the Tamil Nadu government over reports of its decision to ban live streaming of the ‘pran pratishtha’ ceremony at the new Ram temple on January 22. Sharing a newspaper report that claimed oral instructions from the government barring special pujas and serving free food in the name of Ram in temples, Sitharaman called it an “anti-Hindu” action.
“TN government has banned watching the live telecast of Ayodhya Ram Mandir programmes of 22 Jan 24. In TN there are over 200 temples for Shri Ram. In HR&CE-managed temples, no puja/bhajan/prasadam/annadanam in the name of Shri Ram is allowed. Police are stopping privately held temples also from organising events. They are threatening organisers that they will rip off pandals. Strongly condemn this anti-Hindu, hateful action,” Sitharaman said in an X post.
TN govt has banned watching live telecast of #AyodhaRamMandir programmes of 22 Jan 24. In TN there are over 200 temples for Shri Ram. In HR&CE managed temples no puja/bhajan/prasadam/annadanam in the name of Shri Ram is allowed. Police are stopping privately held temples also… pic.twitter.com/G3tNuO97xS— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) January 21, 2024
The Union Minister further alleged that “people are threatened for organising bhajans, feeding the poor, celebrating the occasion with sweets” in the state. “Cable TV operators are told that there is a likely power down during the live telecast. This is INDI Alliance partner DMK’s anti-Hindu efforts,” she added.
The Tamil Nadu government, on the other hand, slammed the Union Minister’s statements accusing the BJP of trying to “divert attention” from the DMK youth Congress in Salem.
Nirmala Sitharaman further said the Tamil Nadu government is “unofficially claiming law and order issues to justify the live telecast ban.”
“False and fake narrative! There was no L&O issues on the day of Ayodhya verdict. Not even the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation, in any part of the country. The groundswell and the voluntary participation of people to celebrate #ShriRam in TN has rattled the anti-Hindu DMK,” the minister said.
According to an NDTV report, the DMK government denied the said newspaper report, calling it a “motivated report to bring disrepute to the state government.” The government stated it would take legal action against the newspaper.
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