The Tamil Nadu government’s Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department has not banned devotees from holding poojas and distributing prasad in temples on the occasion of the Ram Temple consecration ceremony, the department’s minister P Sekar Babu said on Sunday. The minister’s statement came after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday tweeted claiming that the department did not allow the devotees from watching the live telecast of programmes of Ram Mandir and conducting poojas and distributing prasad.

Slamming Sitharaman for spreading misinformation, Babu said that she along with others in the office were “purposefully propagating erroneous information”. The finance minister had shared a news snippet that claimed that the Tamil Nadu government issued a verbal order banning the offering of food and special poojas intemples, shocking the Hindu community in the state.

“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,” Sitharaman wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) without officially verifying the information. “Heart-breaking scenes in several parts of TN. People are threatened for organising #bhajans, feeding the poor, celebrating with sweets even as we wish to watch Hon. PM @narendramodi participate in #Ayodhya. Cable TV operators are told that there is a likely power-shut down during the live telecast. This is I.N.D.I Alliance partner DMK’s anti-Hindu efforts.”

However, Tamil Nadu minister accused Sitharaman of spreading “false information”. “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 limitations on devotees’ freedom to offer food, conduct poojas in the name of Shri Ram, or provide prasad in Tamil Nadu temples,” Babu said on X. “It is unfortunate that people in office, like Union Finance Minister Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman and others, are purposefully propagating this erroneous information.”

The much-hyped Ram Temple consecration ceremony is scheduled to take place on January 22, prompting some state governments – primarily led by the Bharatiya Janata Party – have declared holiday on Monday.