Tamil Nadu Police remove LED screens where Sitharaman scheduled to watch Pran Pratishtha: BJP

NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu Police on Monday removed the LED screens placed in a temple in the Kanchipuram district where Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was going to watch the live telecast of Ram Lalla's Pran Prathistha ceremony.

"This is a private temple in #Kanchipuram where Indian Finance Minister Smt.@nsitharaman is going to watch Live #Ayodhya #RamMandir #PranaPratishta!" SG Suryah, State Secretary of the Tamil Nadu unit of BJP, posted on X.

"But right now Tamil Nadu Police has entered the premises & is removing the LED screens. What a joke this is CM Mr.@mkstalin ?" he added. Meanwhile, Nirmala Sitharaman said the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government's "repression" against those who want to arrange public viewing of the live telecast of the Ram Temple Pran Prathistha ceremony continued.

Accusing the ruling DMK of being "anti-Hindu," she alleged that in the Kanchipuram district, the state police deployed force to prevent the live telecast in some places. "In Kanchipuram district alone, 466 LED screens were arranged for live telecast of @narendramodi in Ayodhya. In more than 400 of those places the police has either confiscated the screens or deployed force to prevent the live telecast. LED suppliers are fleeing with fear. The Anti-Hindu DMK is hitting small businesses. In Tamil, this is called "vyittilee attipptu," Sitharaman posted on X.

The minister said that in the villages of Karunilam and Singaperumal Koil in the district of Chengalpattu, authorities have yet to give permission for placing LED screens for the public viewing of the live telecast of the Pran Prathistha ceremony. "The repression saga in TN continues: a small village (not more than 200 houses) where people wanted to celebrate #AyodhyaRamMandir and watch PM @narendramodi participate have been told that unless the District Collector gives permission they shall not install the hired LED screen," Sitharaman posted on X.

"The DC is sitting on the matter. LED supplier is threatened. Village: Karunilam District: Chengalpattu Another but bigger village LED permission to hang fire: Singaperumal Koil District: Chengalpattu," she added in the post. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday alleged that the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government is instructing the State Police to not grant permission for the live broadcast of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya's Ram temple on January 22.

Addressing reporters in Chengalpattu, Nirmala Sitharaman said, "The Tamil Nadu government is threatening the police to not grant permission for the live broadcast of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony. The Assistant Commissioner of Police is threatening to not broadcast even the programme I attended in Kanchipuram."

"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," she added.