Did DMK MP Kanimozhi’s family send a 613-kg bell to the Ayodhya Ram Mandir?
Claim
DMK Leader Kanimozhi’s family sent 613 kg bell to Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
Rating
Explanation
The consecration ceremony at Ayodhya Ram temple is scheduled to take place on January 22. Meanwhile, multiple unverified pieces of information are being shared relating to the Ayodhya Ram temple.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s son and Tamil Nadu Minister of Youth Welfare and Sports Development, Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks on Sanatana Dharma created debates across the nation. Now, a news report mentions, “When Udhayanidhi Stalin commented on Sanatana Dharma, another person and DMK leader, Kanimozhi from the same family, sent a bell weighing 613 kg to Ayodhya Ram Mandir.” Zee News and Lokmat claimed that Kanimozhi’s family sent the bell weighing 613 kg to the Ayodhya Ram temple in their news reports. The news articles further add that Kanimozhi’s name is engraved on the bell.
What is the truth?
When searching about the bell etched with the phrase ‘Jai Sriram’, we found an ANI tweet dated 28, December 2023 carrying visuals of the bell and mentioning that a 600 kg bell is going to be installed at Ayodhya’s Ram temple.
#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh: Visuals of the temple bell weighing 600 kg that is going to be installed at Ayodhya's Ram temple. pic.twitter.com/SJmB9PWUUt
— ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2023
A video on India Today YouTube channel also shows the visuals of the same temple bell. On observing the names written on the bell closely, we found the following names engraved on it: P.Kanimozhi, P.Lokesh, Mahalakshmi, Kumaran, Vangam Amarnath and Venkatesh Nagamani. On top of these names, we found the names SPE Group TN, Pugazhendi and Manimegalai engraved.
The reporter mentions in the video that the bell is from Tamil Nadu. Business Today also reported that the bell is from Tamil Nadu. SPE Group, as seen engraved on the bell, is from Tamil Nadu, and with further search, we found the Zauba Corp website listing Pugazhendi Lokesh and Saravanan Pugazhendi as directors of SPE Realty Private Limited. The names Pugazhendi and Lokesh are found to have appeared on the bell presented to the Ayodhya Ram temple.
A similar bell weighing around 613 kg etched with ‘Jai Sriram’ is also found. The Hindu, dated September 2020, reported that the bell was funded by the NGO Legal Rights Council, India. It further added that the bell was cast in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu. This image also shows the name of the council engraved on it, along with a few other names.
Multiple other bells are being made and sent to the Ayodhya temple. So to check if any bell was sent by the DMK leader Kanimozhi, we contacted her office and found that nothing as claimed, was sent from her family.
Conclusion
It is found that a temple bell presented by SPE Group from Tamil Nadu that has the name ‘P.Kanimozhi’ engraved on it is misreported as DMK leader Kanimozhi presented it to Ayodhya Ram Mandir.
