CHENNAI: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday reacted strongly to a report in a Tamil newspaper that the Tamil Nadu government had banned special poojas in temples in the state managed by the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department during the ‘pran pratishtha‘ (consecration) of Sri Ram Lalla at the Ayodhya temple on Monday.
Breaking! TN govt bans live broadcast of Ram temple consecration, alleges union minister Nirmala Sitharaman
However, HR&CE minister PK Sekar Babu, who is attending the DMK youth conference in Salem, told TOI: “There is no such action.”Earlier, Sitharaman in a post on X said, “TN govt has banned watching live telecast of #AyodhaRamMandir programmes…In HR&CE managed temples, no puja/bhajan/prasadam/annadanam in the name of Shri Ram is allowed.Police are stopping privately held temples from organising events. They are threatening organisers that they will rip off pandals. Strongly condemn this anti-Hindu, hateful action.”