BJP Moves SC Against Tamil Nadu Govt Ban On Ram Temple Ceremony Live Telecast

New Delhi: The BJP has approached the Supreme Court on an urgent basis to hear its plea against the alleged ‘order’ by the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government that prevents the live telecast of Ram Lalla’s ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony in Ayodhya on Monday at temples and other public places. The petition has been filed by Advocate G Balaji on behalf of Vinoj P Selvam, secretary of Tamil Nadu BJP. The plea stated, “It is respectfully submitted that the State Government run by DMK political party has prohibited the live telecast of the auspicious occasion of ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of Lord Ram at Ayodhya in all the temples across the state of Tamil Nadu.”

The plea also stated, “The government has also forbidden all kinds of poojas, Archana and Annadanam (poor feeding) bhajans on this auspicious occasion. Such arbitrary exercise of power by the State Government (through police officials) per se violates fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.”

The petitioner sought immediate judicial intervention in the matter and warned of a law and problem that may arise. The petitioner said, “Unless there is immediate judicial intervention by this court there will be law and order problem and failure of constitutional machinery.”

The petition further said, “It is therefore most respectfully prayed that the writ petition be listed for hearing tonight itself before the chief justice court or any other court in the interest of justice.” On Sunday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed that the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government is instructing the State Police to not allow the live broadcast of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya’s Ram temple on January 22.

Speaking to reporters in Chengalpattu, Nirmala Sitharaman said, “The Tamil Nadu government is intimidating the police to not permit the live broadcast of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony. The Assistant Commissioner of Police is threatening to not broadcast even the program I attended in Kanchipuram.”

She added, “They said that the Ram temple ceremony should not be telecast in public places. They say that it should not be held in the temple either. They are saying that there will be a law and order problem, and beyond that, they are asking us to give the letter that we have not refused permission.”

However, the state government has denied the Union Minister’s allegations and slammed the spreading of false information. PK Sekar Babu, Tamil Nadu Minister of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments said that the accusations made by Sitharaman related to holding programmes in the name of Lord Ram are totally false.

He posted on X, “Strongly condemn the spreading of false information in an attempt to divert people’s attention from the DMK Youth Conference in Salem. The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department hasn’t imposed any restrictions on devotees’ freedom to offer food, conduct poojas in the name of Shri Ram, or provide prasad in Tamil Nadu temples.”

He also said, “It is unfortunate that people in office, like Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and others, are deliberately propagating this erroneous information.”

Meanwhile, Nirmala Sitharaman responded to the remarks made by the Tamil Nadu minister and said, “Minister Sekar Babu should read the comments under his social media post. Why did he not openly announce earlier that there is no ban on telecasting the Pran pratishtha ceremony of Ram temple and there is no ban on conducting special prayers?”

Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai shared an image on X and alleged that the instructions in the image have been issued by the ADGP (Law and order) to hinder the celebration of the Pran Pratishtha across the state. He posted on X, “DMK government has ministers who are inefficient, corrupt and a bunch of liars. Below are screenshots of instructions issued by ADGP L&O to his SPs directing them to hinder the celebration of the Pran Pratishtha across TN.”