A writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against the alleged order of Tamil Nadu government by which it has banned live telecast of the Concecration ceremony of Lord Ram at Ayodhya in the temples across the State.
A 'letter of urgency' has been filed in the apex court to seek hearing on the matter that the Tamil Nadu government has allegedly banned all kinds of poojas, Archana and Annadanam (poor feeding) bhajans on the occasion and such arbitrary exercise of power by the State government (through police officials) per se violates fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, says the plea.
"It is respectfully submitted that the State government run by DMK political party has banned 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 Government has also banned all kind of Poojas, archana and Annadanam (poor feeding), bhajans on this auspicious occasion." the plea alleged.
G Balaji, Advocate on Record in Supreme Court has filed the petition saying that the alleged actions by the state government violates the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
The petition prayed for immidiate hearing, stating that "Unless there is immidiate judicial intervention by the Hon'ble Court there will be law and order problem and failure of constituional machinery".
A row errupted on Sunday, when the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam shared a news clip on Twitter alledging that the DMK government in Tamil Nadu has banned live telecast of the Ram temple event in the state.
Sitharaman in her X post said that the Tamil Nadu government has banned watching live telecast of Ayodha Ram Mandir programmes to be held on January 22. Taking to the microblogging platform, she slammed the Chief Minister MK Stalin led DMK government in Tamil Nadu and called this action "anti-Hindu" and "hateful".
Following the allegations, the Tamil Nadu government on Sunday issued a press release denying the allegations of ban on any pujas or Annadhanam. The state government said that false information is given by the union minister quoting a newspaper report. The release also said that legal action will be taken against paper for publishing wrong news. However, the press release by the state government was silent on allegations of ban on live telecast of Ayodha Ram Mandir programmes to be held on January 22.
Tamil Nadu's Hindu Religious Endowment Minister Shekharbabu also denied the claims made by the finance miniter and said that Tamil Nadu government has not imposed any restrictions on devotees to perform puja in the name of Ram or give alms in temples in Tamil Nadu.
Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the petition today.
