Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday alleged that the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government has banned live telecast of Ram Mandir’s January 22 ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony in Ayodhya.

Strongly condemning the alleged “anti-Hindu” and “hateful action” of the DMK government, Sitharaman accused the Tamil Nadu police of threatening privately held temples against organising any event on the ocassion of the Ram Mandir event.

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“TN govt has banned watching 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,” she wrote on ‘X’.

She added, “Heart-breaking scenes in several parts of TN. People are threatened for organising bhajans, feeding the poor, celebrating with sweets even as we wish to watch Hon. PM Narendra Modi participate in Ayodhya. Cable TV operators are told that there is a likely power-shut down during the live telecast. This is I.N.D.I Alliance partner DMK’s anti-Hindu efforts.”

In another post, the finance minister claimed that the Tamil Nadu government is citing law and order issue to justify the ban on live telecast of the ceremony.

“TN govt 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 PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation, in any part of the country. The groundswell and the voluntary participation of people to celebrate Shri Ram in TN has rattled the anti-Hindu DMK,” she added.

However, Tamil Nadu Minister of Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments, PK  Sekar Babu countered her claims, terming them “false information”.

Babu said that the there is no such ban and that it was unfortunate to see people in the high offices like Sitharaman  propagating “this erroneous Information”.