Euphoria grips Odisha over Ram temple

ROURKELA/PURI: THE ground breaking ceremony for Ram temple at Ayodhya was celebrated at several places in the State on Wednesday. The euphoria over the historic occasion gripped Rourkela as many people involved in Ram Janmabhoomi movement three decades back joined the celebrations. BJP leader Rajendra Sahu along with locals worshipped Lord Ram with a large portrait of the proposed temple at the background along the Kacheri Road portion of Rourkela main road.

Sahu, who took part in the movement, said his three-decades-long wait to see the construction of Ram temple finally ended on the day. Celebrations were also held near Sankat Mochan temple and other areas of the city.

In Puri, activists of Jagannath Sena led by its convenor Priyadarshan Patnaik, local MLA Jayant Kumar Sarangi, Puri district BJP president Arshit Patnaik, and RSS local unit chief Manoranjan Sahu offered hundreds of lamps to Lord Jagannath in front of Srimandir to mark the occasion. The outfit demanded that Puri should be named Jagannath Dham and Ayodhya Sri Ram Dham.

BJP workers also prayed for speedy recovery of Union Ministers Amit Shah and Dharmendra Pradhan who have tested positive for Covid-19. Noted sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik also created a sculpture on Ram Mandir theme at the beach here on the day.