Chennai: At a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu has been alleging that the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government has been trying to obstruct celebrations around Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir inauguration in Tamil Nadu, Governor R.N. Ravi said Monday that there was a “pervasive sense of invisible fear” among the staff of the Sri Kodandaramaswami Temple in the Tamil Nadu capital.
The governor’s comments came after a visit to the temple earlier in the day.
In a post on his official page on social media platform X (previously Twitter), Ravi said, “This temple is under HR&CE Dept [Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department]. There was an all pervasive sense of invisible fear and apprehensions writ large on the faces of priests and temple staff. A stark contrast to the festive environment in the rest of the country. While the entire country is celebrating the Pran Pratishtha of Ram Lalla, the temple premises here exude a sense of acute repression.”
Earlier Sunday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had posted on X alleging, “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.”
Calling the situation “heart-breaking”, she claimed that people were threatened for organising bhajans, feeding the poor, and celebrating with sweets. Referring to the live coverage of the consecration ceremony at Ayodhya Monday, she said, “Cable TV operators are told that there is a likely power-shut down during the live telecast. This is the I.N.D.I Alliance partner DMK’s anti-Hindu efforts (sic).”
Responding to the allegations, CM Stalin in a statement Monday criticised the BJP, accusing it of “spreading fake news”.
“It has become a common practice for people in higher positions in BJP to spread rumor on WhatsApp, other social media, television and newspapers and make it look like truth. From the capital Delhi to the BJP in Tamil Nadu, no one is an exception,” said the Tamil Nadu chief minister.
He added: “Union Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman also mentioned that the HR&CE has banned the broadcasting of video footage during bhajan programmes at the Kanchipuram Kamatshyamman temple. But those who requested permission for the bhajan programmes have requested permission only stating that they will not screen any video footage. Hiding this, the false news spread by the Union Finance Minister… no, no, a planned rumour, was exposed as a lie.”
Taking a dig at the governor for his remark on temple staff facing fear, Stalin noted that the priests in interviews to the media have denied such an incident. “This proves that the governor made such a remark with a political motive,” Stalin alleged.
DMK Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE), P.K. Sekar Babu too said in a statement Sunday, “HR & CE hasn’t imposed any limitations on devotees’ freedom to offer food, conduct poojas in the name of Shri Ram, or provide prasad in Tamil Nadu temples.”
Calling it a diversionary tactic to take away the people’s attention from the DMK Youth Conference which was underway in Salem over the weekend, Sekar Babu said “It is a matter of concern that people in high office, like Union Finance Minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman and others, are purposefully propagating this erroneous information.”
However, BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit president K. Annamalai had also in a series of social media posts Sunday, referred to alleged restrictions on celebrating the pran pratishtha of Ram Lalla in the Ayodhya temple.
The matter had also reached the Madras High Court and Supreme Court Monday. While the former held no police permission was required to telecast the program in private places, the latter directed the state government to consider applications, if any moved seeking permission for live telecast according to law.
Referring to the alleged restrictions, political analyst Sumanth C. Raman posted on social media, “Whoever advised TN Govt to not allow LED screens for the telecast of Ram Mandir Pran Prathistha in private places needs to be suspended forthwith. It is a political blunder and now the High Court has allowed it, they have been made to look silly. And Anti Hindu too.”
On 18 January, the Tamil Nadu CM’s son and the state’s Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development, Udhayanidhi Stalin, in interacting with he had reiterated his grandfather and party patriarch M. Karunanidhi’s words and said, “DMK is not against any religion or religious belief but construction of a temple by demolishing a masjid that was there is what we are not in agreement with.”
Also read: Annamalai booked for ‘promoting religious enmity’, Tamil Nadu BJP says it’s DMK ‘anti-Hindu mindset’
‘No one can stop us’
On Sunday, Annamalai shared a purported audio conversation between a Hindu devotee and an alleged HR & CE executive official where the “official” is heard saying that there was “oral instruction” that there would be no special pooja (on the occasion of the Ram Mandir pran pratishtha). The authenticity of the audio clip could not be verified by ThePrint.
In another post the state chief of the BJP also posted an image of a purported series of instructions, allegedly from the additional director general of police (ADGP, law & order) to all superintendents of police (SP).
Annamalai said, “The DMK Government has ministers who are inefficient, corrupt and a bunch of liars. Below are the screenshots of instructions passed on by ADGP L&O to his SPs instructing to obstruct the celebration of the Pran Pratishtha across TN. TN has become a draconian state under the DMK Government, and Thiru MK Stalin’s actions are synonymous with the actions of the Tyrant Joseph Stalin. I challenge the TN Govt to disapprove the below screenshots & to file an FIR on me & I will submit the entire sequence of conversations to the court.”
He had also alleged the “DMK government in TN has taken their anti-sanathana charma stand to an extreme level.”
Meanwhile, a Madras High Court bench of Justice Anand Venkatesh in a special sitting Monday to hear a plea against the alleged ban on annadanam and bhajans in private places in the state, said no police permission was required to telecast the program in private places. Justice Venkatesh further said that in temples under the HR & CE department, a prior information to the executive officer would suffice.
“Permission is not required to play bhajans, offer annadhanam or live stream of Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha at private temples, mandapams or other such places. Permission of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department must be obtained only for temples that fall under its control (sic),” said the HC order.
The order added: “It must be borne in mind that all this will be done in a responsible and pious manner today without giving rise to any law and order problem. No misinformation or wrong information must be permitted to be spread and this will be kept in mind by all parties concerned .”
The judge further noted, “Ultimately everyone concerned must keep in mind that bhakti towards God is only for peace and happiness and not to disturb the equilibrium prevailing in the society.”
The Supreme Court, which also heard an emergency writ petition in the Supreme Court Monday on the issue, directed the TN government to consider applications seeking permission for live telecast of the pran pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya according to law, and also instructed the state to maintain the records of applications received and allowed. If any applications were rejected, detailed orders on rejection should be recorded in written, the apex court directed.
While the state government has claimed no order restricting pooja on the occasion of the pran pratishtha of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya had been passed, the BJP has alleged “oral instructions” were given by the government to the concerned departments
Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state vice president Vinoj P. Selvam had alleged in a writ petition filed in Supreme Court alleged that the Tamil Nadu government had banned live screenings of the Ayodhya event, annadanams, bhajans and special poojas on the auspicious occasion of Ram Lalla’s pran pratisthha in Ayodhya. Such arbitrary exercise of power by the state government (through police officials) per se violates fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, he said.
Referring to the Monday order of the Madras High Court in his statement, Stalin said the court too had condemned this false propaganda “Bhakti is only for happiness and peace,” said Stalin and further noted that the high court had condemned and cautioned that “it is not to disturb the balance in the society and while there is no ban on special pujas, wrong propaganda should not pave the way for law and order disorder.”
Stalin added that the highest officials of BJP and those who have been given high responsibilities by the BJP, are behaving with a tendency to not respect the constitution, and continue to act as WhatsApp universities for spreading rumours.
Terming Tamil Nadu a land of religious harmony based on the principle of social justice, Stalin said “The true devotees of Tamil Nadu have bhakti as their personal right, inner joy, soul quest. They worship their god. They also admire Periyar’s [father of Dravidian Movement ] philosophy. People of other religions are respected. In order to disrupt this peace and harmony, those who hold responsibility at various levels in the BJP are working.”
Following the Madras High Court and Supreme court orders, the state BJP President had sent out a video message, hours before the pran pratishtha ceremony was to start in ayodhya, saying, “No one can stop us from watching the program in private places, and you don’t have to listen to the police if they come up asking you to stop the screening. Meanwhile, in temples HR&CE executive officers have to be informed in writing and that we have informed. So, as the pran prathishta is to take place in less than an hour, we are sharing this video to inform all of you.”
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)