Ayodhya Event: PM Modi met Yogi Adityanath as he landed in Ayodhya.
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PM Modi, wearing a mask, first offered prayers at the Hanumangarhi temple - a shrine to Lord Hanuman. He went to Ramjanmabhoomi or the birthplace of Lord Ram to pray at the shrine to "Ram Lalla", the infant Lord Ram, before proceeding to the site of the main "Bhoomi Pujan" ceremony.
PM Modi, who in 1990 was one of the organizers of the nationwide campaign for a temple at the site where the 16th century Babri mosque once stood, sat down for rituals before laying a silver brick to symbolize the construction of the temple.
At Hanumangarhi, PM Modi was gifted a headgear by the chief priest. Priest Raju Das said that according to legend, no work is complete without the blessings of Lord Hanuman.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Mohan Bhagwat - the chief of the BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and around 170 spiritual leaders attended the ceremony. Iqbal Ansari, a litigant in the temple-mosque dispute, was the first person to be invited.
BJP veterans LK Advani - who led the Ram temple movement in the 1990s - and Murli Manohar Joshi attended the event through video-conference because of coronavirus precautions. The Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust, tasked with building the temple, reportedly issued a last-minute invite to the two leaders. Uma Bharti, another key BJP leader of the temple campaign, is attending the ceremony in Ayodhya after previously saying she would stay away as a coronavirus precaution.
The temple campaign marked the emergence of the BJP as a national electoral force. In the 1990s, LK Advani took out a rath yatra to pitch for a Ram temple at the site where the 16th century Babri mosque stood. On December 6, 1992, the mosque was razed by activists who believed it was built on the ruins of an ancient temple that marked Lord Ram's birthplace. More than 2,000 people died in the riots that followed.
Last year, after several efforts at mediation failed, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark verdict handing over the 2.77 acres of land claimed by both Hindus and Muslims for a Ram temple. The court ordered a five-acre plot at a different site in Ayodhya for a mosque.
Today's festivities, held at a time recommended by astrologers, are vastly curtailed because of the coronavirus battle with over 50,000 daily infections. Home Minister Amit Shah, has been hospitalized with the virus. A priest and 14 policemen on duty near the temple site have also tested positive.
The ceremony was beamed onto large screens around the country and even on the huge displays at Times Square in New York. Soil from almost 2,000 holy sites around India and water of around 100 holy rivers will be used in the temple foundation.
Images released on Monday of the temple design showed a grand three-storey stone structure with multiple turrets, pillars and domes. The temple will be 161 feet tall.
