The Tamil Nadu government on Monday, 22 January, told the Supreme Court that there is no ban on public screenings of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony on Monday, 22 January, in the state, and that citizens are free to perform special poojas or bhajans.
The government was responding to a plea filed by a Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member, who alleged that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led government had "banned live telecasts of the Ayodhya temple consecration" and related events in the state.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta hearing the petition said that "the allegation made in the petition is that oral orders have been issued to ban live telecast, performance of poojas, archanas, annadhanams, bhajans on the occasion of Pran Pratishta of Lord Ram at Ayodhya today."
"The Tamil Nadu government says no such oral orders are issued … We take the statement on record," the court stated.
The court added that it believes the "authorities will act in accordance with the law and not based on any oral instructions…"
Justice Khanna further directed the TN government not to reject permissions for such events on the grounds that a minority community is living in areas where they're being organised.
The bench also asked the government to maintain the records of applications received and permitted. If any of them were rejected, detailed orders on the same should be recorded in writing, it said.
The hearing comes after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in a series of tweets in both English and Hindi, accused the DMK government of "banning" live telecasts of the consecration ceremony across TN, terming it an "anti-Hindu, hateful action."
The government, however, denied these allegations and claimed she was "spreading fake news."
Nirmala Sitharaman vs TN Govt: Who Said What?
On Sunday, 21 January, Nirmala Sitharaman shared a clipping from right-wing-leaning Tamil daily Dinamalar on X, saying:
"TN govt has banned watching the 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 from organising events. They are threatening organisers that they will rip off pandals."
She went on to add that the government was "unofficially claiming law and order issues to justify the live telecast ban."
However, strongly rebutting her claims, the Hindu, Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Department of TN accused Sitharaman and the newspaper of spreading fake news. "The act of Dinamalar which is aimed at creating confusion among the people and instigating hatred against the government is highly condemnable," read its official statement, as per Deccan Herald.
Minister of HR & CE Sekar Babu said, as per the publication: "The HR & CE department has not imposed any ban on devotees to organise special poojas, annadanam, or distribute prasadam in the name of Lord Ram."
'LEDs Being Taken Down': Sitharaman
Adding to her her post on X, on Monday, Sitharaman shared purported videos and notices from different parts of Tamil Nadu, which alleged that the local authorities were preventing the installation of or taking down LED screens for the screening of the consecration ceremony.
"In Kanchipuram district alone, 466 LED screens were arranged for the live telecast of @narendramodi in Ayodhya. In more than 400 of those places, the police have either confiscated the screens or deployed force to prevent the live telecast," her post alleged.
The Quint has not been able to independently verify these claims.
The controversy erupted just days after DMK Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin reiterated his party's stance on the Ram Mandi issue, stating that while they were not against any faith, "we are not in agreement with the temple coming up at the place where Babri Masjid once stood."
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