Washington:

A replica of Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir would be on display during the India Day parade in New York on August 18, which attracts thousands of Indian Americans from in and around New York.

The replica of the temple would be 18 feet long, nine feet wide and eight feet in height, according to Amitabh Mittal, general secretary of Vishva Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA). This would be the first time that a replica of the Ram Mandir would be on display in the United States.

The annual India Day Parade in New York is the largest celebration of India’s Independence Day outside India. More than 150,000 people normally watch the annual parade which runs from East 38th Street to East 27th Street in Midtown New York.

Organised by Federation of Indian Associations (FIA), the parade will see scores of floats representing various Indian American communities and a diversity of culture running through the streets of New York.

The VHPA-A recently organised a Ram Mandir Rath Yatra that visited 851 temples in 48 States over 60 days.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ayodhya:

Ram Temple Construction Committee Chairman Nripendra Mishra on Tuesday rejected the allegations of the temple’s chief priest regarding the seepage of rainwater draining out of water from the sanctum sanctorum.

“There was no water leakage but the rainwater came down from the pipes fixed to install electric wires,” Mishra said.

“I myself have inspected the building of the temple. The second floor is under construction. When the roof of the second floor will be finally constructed, then the rainwater will stop entering the temple,” Mr Mishra told reporters here.

Alleging negligence in the construction of the temple, Ram Janmabhoomi temple chief priest Acharya Satyendra Das had on Monday alleged that there was no arrangement for the draining out of rainwater from the temple premises after the showers on Saturday midnight and urged the temple authorities to take necessary corrective measures.

Mr Das had asked the temple authorities to take cognisance of the incident and make necessary arrangements to stop leakage and ensure outflow of water from the temple.

He had claimed that there was heavy leakage from the roof of the temple’s sanctum sanctorum in the first heavy showers that occurred at midnight on Saturday.

Rainwater was leaking from the roof directly above the place where the priest sits in front of Ram Lalla’s idol and where people come for VIP ‘darshan’, he had said.

“It is very surprising that engineers from all over the country are building the Ram temple. The temple was inaugurated on January 22. But, no one knew that if it rains, the roof will leak.

“It is surprising that the roof of a world famous temple is leaking. Why did this happen?” he added.

Such an incident is happening in the presence of such big engineers, which is very wrong, he had said.

Mr Mishra said measures have been taken to protect the devotees from water and sunlight by making temporary construction on the roof.

About the progress of temple construction, Mr Mishra said work on the first floor was on and will be finished by July this year. He expressed the hope that the construction of the temple would be completed by December.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ayodhya:

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan visited the Ram temple here on Wednesday and bowed before the deity.

Kerala Raj Bhawan, in a post on X, said the governor visited the Ram Temple and had a darshan.

“I came to Ayodhya twice in January. The feeling at that time is the same even today. I have come to Ayodhya many times. It is not just a matter of happiness for us, instead it is a matter of pride, that coming to Ayodhya and worshipping Shriram,” the governor told reporters.

Hon’ble Governor Shri Arif Mohammed Khan at Prabhu Shri Ram Temple Ayodhya: PRO KeralaRajBhavan pic.twitter.com/wCzZCSirLt

— Kerala Governor (@KeralaGovernor) May 8, 2024

In a video posted on the official X handle of the Kerala Governor showing Mr Khan bowing before the idol of Ram Lalla, the chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’ could be heard in the background.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Dhar:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he wanted the 400-seat mandate for the BJP-led NDA to ensure the Congress does not bring back Article 370 in Kashmir and put a “Babri lock” on the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

He also hit out at RJD leader Lalu Prasad over his remarks favouring quota benefits to Muslims, saying the INDI alliance wants to snatch all reservations of SCs, STs and OBCs and give them to the “vote bank” as part of a deeper conspiracy.

Addressing a rally at Dhar in Madhya Pradesh, PM Modi said Congress has mentioned in the poll manifesto that it will ensure the participation of minorities in contracts, which means the opposition party will give contracts on a religious basis.

He claimed the Congress has also talked about giving priority to minorities in sports and wondered whether the selection of players in the cricket team will be based on his religion.

PM Modi accused Congress of belittling Babasaheb Ambedkar by claiming he had a very little role in framing the Constitution compared to Pandit Nehru.

“The truth is that the Congress parivar (family) deeply hates Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar,” he said.

Accusing Congress of spreading rumours that the BJP government will change the Constitution if it wins 400 seats, Modi said it seems the intelligence of Congress people is focused on their vote bank.

“It is important for the country’s people to know the BJP-led NDA already has 400-plus seats in Parliament. We used this number to scrap Article 370 (which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir),” the PM said.

PM Modi wants 400 seats so that the Congress won’t bring back Article 370 to spoil the game and put a Babri lock on the Ram temple in Ayodhya, he said.

The PM said that about 14 days back, he challenged Congress to give in writing to the country’s 140 crore people that it will not give reservation based on religion.

“Secondly, I asked them to give in writing that they will never snatch reservations being given to SCs, STs and OBC and thirdly, to give in writing that they will never give reservations to Muslims through dacoity on the existing OBC quota, but they are not responding and put a lock on their mouths,” he said.

PM Modi claimed the Congress has also talked about giving priority to minorities in sports.

“I wanted to ask Congress, if it wanted to do so, why it divided the country in three parts after 1947. At the same time, the entire country would have been made Pakistan and at the same time, India would have been erased,” he said.

The PM said he wants 400 Lok Sabha seats to prevent Congress from “dacoity” of the OBC quota to benefit its vote bank.

Lashing out at Congress for claiming that BJP will alter the Constitution in the third term, Modi said, “We have also used these 400 plus seats to extend SC/ST quota for 10 years, appoint a tribal woman as the country’s President for the first time and to provide reservation to women, PM Modi said.

“Modi is asking for 400 seats so that the Congress does not hand over the country’s vacant land and islands to other countries, it does not take away reservation given to SC/ST/OBCs and give it to its vote bank and does not declare all castes of its vote bank as OBC overnight,” he said.

Without naming Lalu Prasad, PM Modi said a big alliance partner of the INDIA bloc has endorsed what he used to say about their plan to end the reservations for SC, ST and OBCs.

“Their leader who has eaten the animal’s fodder (alluding to Lalu Yadav’s conviction in fodder scam) and convicted by the court, even by the Supreme Court in the corruption case and out on bail due to health..” “Congress is making him dance on their head. He is saying not only Muslims should get reservations but all the reservations should be given to Muslims. Means they want all the reservation to Muslims by snatching it from SC, ST and OBC,” PM Modi said.

He alleged the Congress had stabbed Ambedkar, who had opposed the religion-based reservation, and the Constitution in the back.

“The Congress has started saying that he (Ambedkar) had a very little role in framing the Constitution and Pandit Nehru made the most significant contribution,” he said and pointed out that Ambedkar was given the Bharat Ratna when Congress was not in power.

He said if Congress has its way, it will say its vote bank has the first right to live in India and asserted “till Modi is alive, he will foil attempts to erase India’s identity in the name of fake and pseudo-secularism”.

The Congress, which gave the Gareebi Hatao slogan for 50 years, is angry with facilities being given to the poor now, Modi alleged.

“Congress leaders are saying they will discontinue the free ration and free medical treatment schemes,” he said, adding Congress has opposed all our works related to “viraasat (legacy) and aastha (faith).

PM Modi said the Opposition was defeated in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls, “destroyed” in the second phase, and whatever is left of it in the third phase today will also collapse. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on Saturday shared pictures of carvings inside the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, which is scheduled to be inaugurated in January 2024. 

In the pictures shared by the trust on their official X (formerly Twitter) account, the artists can be seen sculpting on pillars inside the Ram Mandir.

As per reports, stones from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district are being used in the construction of the Ram Mandir in Uttar Pradesh city.

Carvings inside Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir.

श्री राम जन्मभूमि मंदिर के भीतर नक्काशी का कार्य pic.twitter.com/sFfUbWLBHv

— Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra (@ShriRamTeerth) October 28, 2023

Earlier this week, the Trust had also shared a video of the under-construction Ram Temple on X. 

The 30-second video, which was captioned “Culmination of 500 years of struggle”, gave a sneak peek into the construction of the grand temple.

500 वर्षों के संघर्ष की परिणति pic.twitter.com/z5OTXivUFL

— Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra (@ShriRamTeerth) October 26, 2023

The small clip also showed the Sanctum Sanctorum, one of the golden doors, and the carvings on the pillars and walls of the temple.

PM Modi to attend Ram Temple inauguration ceremony

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that he will attend the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, which is set to take place on January 22 next year.

“Today is a day full of emotions. The officials of Shri Ram Janma Bhoomi Tirtha Kshetra today came to meet me at my residence. They invited me to come to Ayodhya on the occasion of the consecration of Shri Ram temple,” PM Modi said in a post in Hindi, along with a photo of the temple trust’s functionaries, on October 25.

“I feel very blessed. It is my good fortune that in my lifetime, I will witness this historic occasion,” he added.

जय सियाराम!

आज का दिन बहुत भावनाओं से भरा हुआ है। अभी श्रीराम जन्मभूमि तीर्थ क्षेत्र ट्रस्ट के पदाधिकारी मुझसे मेरे निवास स्थान पर मिलने आए थे। उन्होंने मुझे श्रीराम मंदिर में प्राण-प्रतिष्ठा के अवसर पर अयोध्या आने के लिए निमंत्रित किया है।

मैं खुद को बहुत धन्य महसूस कर रहा… pic.twitter.com/rc801AraIn

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 25, 2023

Earlier, Shri Ram Janambhoomi Trust General Secretary Champat Rai had confirmed that the idol of Lord Ram will be installed at the temple on January 22 and that PM Modi has accepted their invitation.

The trust is reportedly planning to invite over 25,000 Hindu religious leaders from 136 Sanatana traditions for the consecration ceremony. About 10,000 “special guests” are also likely to be invited to the grand ceremony.

PM Modi laid the foundation stone of the Ram Mandir on August 5, 2020, after the Supreme Court — in a verdict in November 2019 — paved the way for the construction of the temple. 

The Centre had then set up the Shri Ram Janma Bhoomi Tirtha Kshetra to oversee the construction.

New Delhi:

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will inaugurate a Ram Mandir-themed Durga Puja Pandal at Santosh Mitra Square in north Kolkata on October 16.

This unique pandal, organized by the Santosh Mitra Square Puja Committee, is modelled after the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Kolkata and inaugurate this Durga Puja pandal.

According to BJP leader Sajal Ghosh, the inauguration ceremony is set to take place at 4 PM in the Santosh Mitra Square Puja. This particular Durga Puja is also known as Sajay Ghosh’s Puja. The theme for this year’s celebration is the Ram Temple, inspired by the ongoing construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The pandal at Santosh Mitra Square has been beautifully decorated.

It’s worth mentioning that Amit Shah previously inaugurated Puja pandals during the 2021 Assembly elections in Kolkata. The BJP itself organized Durga Puja celebrations in Bengal during that time, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually present for the inauguration.

Ayodhya:

The caretaker of a mosque near the under-construction Ram temple in Ayodhya has entered into an agreement with the temple trust to “sell” the mosque land for Rs 30 lakh, according to a complaint lodged with the district authorities by local Muslims.

Though the sale agreement was inked on September 1, the matter came to light recently. Local Muslim groups have now sought action against the caretaker of the mosque and called for cancellation of the agreement.

On Thursday afternoon, a delegation of Muslims met the Ayodhya district magistrate and handed over a memorandum demanding the lodging of an FIR against the mosque caretaker and cancellation of the agreement of sale done between him and the Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust.

District Magistrate Nitish Kumar said, “The application regarding the sale of ‘Masjid Badr’ has been received by my office and Additional District Magistrate (Enforcement) Amit Singh has been asked to probe the matter.” The delegation was headed by Azam Qadri, the president of Anjuman Muhafiz Masajid Wa Makabir, a local committee formed to save the waqf property in Ayodhya.

Azam Qadri said the caretaker of Masjid Badr, Mohammad Raees, has entered into the sale agreement for a total of Rs 30 lakh and has taken Rs 15 lakh in advance.

The mosque is situated in Mohalla Panji Tola of Ayodhya and is used for daily prayers by locals, he said.

The mosque is duly registered with the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, he said.

Station House Officer of Ram Janambhoomi police station M P Shukla said they were investigating the matter.

Aftab Ahmad, senior counsel for the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, said, “According to the central waqf act and different rulings given by the Supreme Court at different times, no one has the right to either sale, transfer or gift waqf properties. Those involved in selling or entering into agreement of sale of ‘Masjid Badr’ of Ayodhya have committed a crime and their acts are against the law.” Representatives of the temple trust could not be reached for a comment on the issue.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)