Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai today (21 January) questioned the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government over the alleged ban on conducting special poojas, annadanams and other charitable activities in temples in the state.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he said that the temples belong to the devotees and questioned the right of the DMK government to interfere in temple practises. Further, he said that special programmes and live screenings of the ceremony were not being allowed due to instructions from the government.

Continuing his criticism of the government, he asked who was it trying to satisfy through such divisive efforts and said that the DMK government, which portrays itself as a ‘secular’ government must give up doing something anti-Hindu every other month.

He concluded his post by saying that in spite of the ban imposed by the DMK government, special poojas, annadanam and other charitable works will continue in temples.

The allegations have come on the second day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tamil Nadu. PM Modi today (21 January) visited Arichal Munai in Dhanushkodi, considered to be the starting point of the Ram Setu, which was built by Lord Ram to go to Sri Lanka. Earlier, he visited the Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam and the Ramanathaswamy Temple in Rameswaram.

Annamalai also posted letters which stated that permission had been denied. One of the letters, sent by a charitable trust, mentioned that they were cancelling a Bhajan programme due to a ‘verbal communication’ from a HRCE official.

He later posted screenshots, which he said were of instructions sent by the ADGP (L&O) to SP’s asking them to obstruct the celebration of the pran prathistha of the murti of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya.

Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HRCE) minister P Sekar Babu later said that no such restrictions had been imposed and said that the BJP was trying to divert attention from the DMK’s youth wing conference in Salem.

Earlier, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too had questioned the DMK government over the alleged restrictions.