India / PM reaches Ayodhya for foundation stone laying ceremony of Ram Temple

Ayodhya: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday landed in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya on Wednesday to participate in the grand groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of Ram temple, a poll promised fulfilled by his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Prime Minister had left Delhi in the morning in an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane and landed in the state capital of Lucknow from where he was flown to the temple town in a helicopter.

PM Modi visit the 10th-century Hanuman Garhi temple for special prayers. He is expected to reach the Ram Janmabhoomi site at 12pm, where he will visit Ram Lalla or the infant Lord Ram for 10 minutes, according to his official itinerary.

He will participate in a tree plantation programme inside the premises and will plant a sapling of Parijat or Indian night jasmine. Modi will unveil a plaque to mark the laying of the foundation stone and also release a commemorative postage stamp on ‘Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir’.

Borders sealed, Covid-19 tests

PM Modi will be there for at least three hours in the temple town, which has been decked with 150,000 lamps, many buildings given a fresh coat of paint and murals from the epic Ramayana have been painted on walls. There will be as many as 5,100 urns decorated by local artists on the road that Modi will travel on.

Authorities have put in a massive security cloak in the town, which has been spruced up for the event. The borders of Ayodhya, which nearly 130km from the state capital of Lucknow, have been sealed, thousands of security personnel have been deployed and 75 check posts have been put to block approach roads.

“Over 300 police personnel, who are younger, fit and healthy as well as tested negative for Covid-19 infection, have already been handpicked for deployment in VVIP security,” said a senior police official on condition of anonymity.

Auspicious moment, silver bricks

A water-proof marquee has been put up at the venue for the ceremony and a stage has also been set up from where PM Modi is expected to address the gathering. The government has urged local residents to remain at home and follow the grand event on television.

PM Modi, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath and UP governor Anandiben Patel will be on the stage as 175 guests will be present for the bhoomi poojan.

Vedic rituals had started at Ram Janmabhoomi at around 9am on Wednesday. The main programme of bhoomi poojan will begin at 12:30pm and PM Modi will lay five silver bricks as the temple foundation amid the chanting of Vedic hymns at 12:40pm. Priests and religious leaders have said that the muhurat or auspicious moment will last only for 32 seconds.

The Prime Minister will use a 40-kilogram silver brick to lay the foundation of the temple. The brick, which has been donated by Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, chairperson of the temple trust, will be removed after the ceremony. The groundbreaking ceremony will be telecast live and CCTV screens have been put across the town for residents to follow the ceremony.

Several devotees have also donated silver bricks to the trust. All of them will be used for the ceremony on Wednesday, said trust officials. “Later, these silver bricks will be enchased and the money will be used for the construction of Ram Mandir,” Mahant Kamal Nayan Das, successor designate to the trust chief, said.

The Prime Minister will also meet Swami Nrityagopal Das and other members of the Ram Janmabhoomi trust after the programme. He will leave for the helipad at 2:05pm and for Lucknow at 2:20pm.

Prohibitory orders are in force in the town and not more than five people will be allowed to gather. Markets and shops will remain open but with strict adherence to the Covid-19 protocol. Outsiders will be stopped from entering the city and residents of Ayodhya will be allowed in if they produce any identification document.

A Supreme Court ruling in November ended a decades-old dispute and ordered that a Ram temple be built on the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya.