Min Sekarbabu refutes Nirmala Sitharaman’s charges, calls it 'misinformation campaign with hidden agenda'

CHENNAI: Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) P K Sekar on Sunday refuted Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s charges saying there is no ban for devotees to organise Annadhanam (free meals) and poojas in the name of Lord Ram in the temples in the state.

He also expressed disappointment that persons like Nirmala Sithraman, holding top position, are spreading “untruth” information with a “hidden agenda”.

The Union Minister, citing a news item published in a regional newspaper, posted a message that the Tamil Nadu government has banned watching live telecasts of Ayodha Ram Mandir programmes of January 22, 2024. In TN, there are over 200 temples for Shri Ram. In HR&CE managed temples, no pooja, bhajan, prasadam and annadhanam in the name of Shri Ram is allowed.

She further charged that the Tamil Nadu police are “stopping privately held temples” from organising events and “threatening organisers that they will rip off pandals” and strongly condemned the “anti-Hindu, hateful action”.

Responding to the union minister’s claims, Sekarbabu said that there is “no such ban”.

It is saddened to see union minister Nirmala Sithraman, holding a top position in the government, is indulging in spreading “completely untruth and false information” , with a hidden agenda, he said in his rebuttal.

He also took to microblog to register his protest against the union minister.

In his post, Sekarbabu said the misinformation campaign has been carried out to divert the attention from the DMK’s youth wing conference held in Salem.

“It is a planned misinformation campaign,” he minister said, adding, “The department did not issue a ban to the devotees to conduct poojas, annadhanam or prasadham in the name of Ram in the HR&CE temples in the state.”