Rajan Singh (front left), vice-president of Bihar State Transgender Welfare Board, and others read out 'Modi Chalisa', a devotional poem, with a cutout image of PM Modi depicting him in a god-like manner during an event at the Press Club of India in New Delhi on Thursday (August 20). Photo: PTI
Press Club of India disowns ‘Modi worship event’, says hall booking terms were violated
Event organiser says Transgender Welfare Board plans Rs 112-cr temple for PM Modi in Bihar; Press Club says it intervened and stopped the event after rental terms were breached
New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) As the purported visuals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cutout being worshiped at an event at the Press Club of India were widely circulated online, the journalists' body on Thursday clarified that it had not organised the event.
Images and videos online showed a 'Modi Chalisa', a devotional poem, being read out, with a cutout image Modi depicting him in a god-like manner. Amid mounting criticism, the Press Club of India denied organising the event.
"The Press Club of India has noticed that a photo/video of an event held at its premises earlier today, is circulating on social media. It is hereby clarified that the Club had not organised the event," it said in a post on X.
"The hall was hired for the purpose of holding a press conference by an organisation, but when terms for renting out the place were violated by it, the Club authorities immediately intervened and it was stopped," it said.
The organiser of the event, Rajan Singh, the vice-president of Bihar State Transgender Welfare Board, said they plan to construct a temple for Prime Minister Modi in Bihar.
"For the first time ever, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensured that the transgender community gets its rights... If we want to construct a temple for him, what is wrong with it?" Singh told PTI.
He said the Bihar State Trangeder Welfare Board will build the massive temple for "Lord Shri Narendra Modi ji", at a cost of Rs 112 crore on five acres of land in Bihar.
Asked about the criticism against the deification of the prime minister, he said, "Nobody should criticise it... This government, for the first time, provided rights to transgender people; they are getting employment..." Regarding the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, which has been criticised for stripping away the right to gender self-determination, he claimed the community is not the one opposing it.
"Transgender people are not against the Act, it was the Oppositon that was criticising it," he claimed. PTI