'His speech at the bhoomi puja will stand out for a long time in the memory of those who listened to it for touching the pinnacle of excellence and brilliance in both style and content,' declares B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
Interestingly, the choice of August 5 as the day of the bhoomi pujan coincides with the abolition of Kashmir's special status on the same day a year ago. Perhaps the RSS-BJP wants August 5 to be remembered as the date on which the foundation stone of their cherished Hindu rashtra was laid, notes Amulya Ganguli.
'While suppression of information is acceptable for the government, the Opposition's efforts at pinning the government and its leaders is labeled anti-national,' points out Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The FM flew to Chennai on Sunday to inaugurate Nandavanam, the central revenue quarters of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs at Anna Nagar in Chennai.
Interacting with the media at Brussels Press Club in Brussels, Gandhi said the government's action tells about its thinking.
'He couldn't hold himself from chanting 'Siyavar Ramchandra ki Jai'.'
'Does a secular nation not believe in its ancestry? The Constitution has a photo of Ram also.'
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the events of August 5, 2020.
By the end of 2023, the construction at the sanctum sanctorum is expected to be completed, Rai said.
In the last 9 years, the BJP govt has marked some anniversaries and events with more zeal than Congress-led governments.
Danish Kaneria played 61 Tests for Pakistan.
Just six years after his father's Rath Yatra, the BJP came to power in New Delhi in 1996, points out Jayant Advani.
Tharoor said that if the "omission" was inadvertent, "a correction would be reassuring".
Dominic Xavier offers his take on the dilemma of the Congress leadership who may feel that the BJP has secured a clear advantage with Hindu voters and the construction of the Ram temple may pave a way for Modi winning the Lok Sabha election three times in a row.
The prime minister was spotted in a Swasa N95 mask created by the IIT-Kanpur start-up and incubator team.
Modi knows that the BMC elections are critical for his party which has never won a majority in the city's 227 wards.
Addressing a public rally in Sabroom in poll-bound Tripura, Shah said that the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist had put the Ram Mandir issue in the jurisdiction of the court for long, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for it after the Supreme Court's order.
'Now that the Ram mandir is done, we need to move on. And grapple with COVID-19, a sputtering economy, a belligerent China...' 'The temple may win a few more elections for the BJP, but by itself it won't solve the nation's growing problems of economic and social distress,' notes Virendra Kapoor.
'If the Ram Mandir is made, it is because of the collective strength of our country.'
After Prime Minister Modi performed the bhoomi puja for the Ram temple, Lata Mangeshkar picked her favourite Ram bhajans.
'He was a nobody then.' 'And whatever little his contribution was there, it was restricted to Gujarat.'
'If the civil code has to be put on hold, what card can the BJP play if it finds the going tough in the run-up to the general election of 2024?' asks Amulya Ganguli.
Anyone with such experiences could have been expected to turn fundamentalist. But Shaheen Kadri is anything but that.
If the PM gives the historic opportunity of laying the foundation stone of the Ram temple to a Dalit girl, it will send a transformational message to the Dalits in India and will give them a sense of belongingness, says Dr Sudhir Bisht.
'Indian secularism doesn't deserve a tombstone. It needs a new shrine,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
Shifting positions on religiosity and Covid may confuse the Hindutva citizenry, but you can rely on Bengal to turn a non-arguable issue into a raging controversy, notes Kanika Datta.
It cannot be that only in this case the CBI has developed a spine, refusing to heed the advice of its political masters.' 'There is something that does not meet the eye here,' notes Virendra Kapoor.
'I was fortunate to have served as India's ambassador to Indonesia and witnessed on several occasions, the incredible performances of the Ramayana and episodes from the Mahabharata in Jogjakarta and in Bali,' recalls former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
'In India, a really popular and well-entrenched leader is not defeated by a rival.' 'Such a leader has to defeat himself,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
'We all know that when the Babri Masjid was demolished, P V Narasimha Rao was prime minister.' 'He did not do anything to stop the demolition.'
'This is about reviving this country as a centre of Hindutva at Ayodhya.'
By all yardsticks 2024 isn't expected to be like 2014 or 2019. But with the mandir expected to be ready in time for the next Lok Sabha polls, Modi will have a new ally in Ram to see him through, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
We present our alphabet of 2020, pulling in everything you'll remember about this year we'd rather forget.
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