The year began with Ayodhya getting ready for the Ram temple consecration ceremony. Almost four months later, the excitement has settled down and some voters are crediting the Bharatiya Janata Party for fulfilling its promise while others feel that development should reach every corner of the district.
BJP and RSS leaders are once again pushing to remove the words 'secular' and 'socialist' from the Constitution's Preamble, showing a deeper effort to change India's identity from a diverse, multi-religious republic to a Hindu-first nation, even though they don't have the numbers in Parliament to officially change the Constitution, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
According to the police, some Bajrang Dal members had visited the gym, located in the Ayodhya Nagar area of Bhopal, and raised questions over the presence of Muslim trainers at the facility.
As many as 3,800 bamboo and 36 projector lights worth over Rs 50 lakh installed on Bhakti Path and Ram Path, located in a high-security area in Ayodhya, were allegedly stolen, according to police.
The government aims to better its last year's Guinness World Record by lighting 25 lakh diyas on the banks of Saryu river.
'The 2024 general elections proved that UP is not Gujarat.'
'The Constitution of India defeated the BJP.'
The primary drivers: Geopolitical disruptions inflating fuel and operational costs, and a surge in travel demand.
Gandhi said the party will defeat the saffron party and Narendra Modi in Gujarat just the way it was defeated in Ayodhya.
Only in the event of the RSS managing to force Modi into accepting a consensual candidate, will the party not continue to 'being' the 'next Congress', observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
This has invited sharp reaction from the Opposition, with the Samajwadi Party saying that the BJP was afraid of its defeat in Milkipur due to which it moved the court for "stalling" polls on the assembly seat.
She was referred to King George's Medical University as the women's hospital in Ayodhya did not have the facility to provide adequate treatment, the district's chief medical officer Sanjay Jain said.
In a major upset in the Faizabad parliamentary constituency, where the temple town of Ayodhya is situated, Samajwadi Party candidate Awadhesh Prasad defeated sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MP Lallu Singh by a margin of 54,567 votes.
This comes a day after the Uttar Pradesh government suspended six officials of civic agencies for alleged gross negligence following the road cave-ins and waterlogging at several sections of the newly-built Ram Path.
"This entire period is highly sensitive in terms of law and order, healthcare, sanitation, education, and disaster management. Hence, all related departments and district administrations must work with coordination and accountability," Adityanath said, according to an official statement.
This was Murmu's first visit to Ayodhya since the newly-built Ram temple's consecration ceremony was held on January 22.
Anil Kumble arrived in Lucknow on Sunday for the 'Pran Prathishta' ceremony
Rediff.com's Rajesh Karkera captures the faces from Ayodhya.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has sent a high-level team to Ayodhya to deal with cyber threats ahead of the inauguration of the Ram Temple in the historical town on January 22.
The glimpses of how Ayodhya is being monitored ahead of the grand the 'Pran Pratishtha' (consecration) ceremony of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple, on Thursday, 4 January, 2024.
Kangana Ranaut has posted pictures of herself in Ayodhya.
The push to develop Ayodhya as a tourism centre, accompanied by large-scale infrastructure projects, comes on the back of years of limited income growth and tourist inflows.
Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com captures scenes from Ayodhya hours before the pran prathishta ceremony.
Our ancestors did jihad against Britishers, but yours penned 'love letters', Owaisi said in a jibe to Fadnavis.
'Standing before the majestic Ram Mandir, embraced by a sense of peace and devotion. A truly humbling experience. Grateful for this blessed moment.'
Besides paying his respects to Ram Lalla, the megastar, who was accompanied by his son Abhishek, was seen rubbing shoulders with quite a few dignitaries.
The devotion to the deity is such that even commerce is not untouched by the spiritual feel in the holy city. Images of the grand temple is finding places even on visiting cards, posters, calendars and even signages.
In a post on X, Modi shared a video montage of the ceremony in which a new idol of the Ram Lalla was consecrated at the Ayodhya temple.
No one wants to curb the enthusiasm being seen among the people, but at the same time officials feel nothing should be left to chance, as the flood of humanity thronging the temple area poses problems for security personnel.
While acknowledging that they needed strong allies for a chance in the assembly polls, AIADMK cadres seemingly prefer actor-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to the BJP, owing to the latter's 'communal agenda' and consequent hardline Hindutva image, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
Roads are being expanded, bridges are being built, hotels are springing up, and the crowds are pouring in. Bringing with them promise of unforeseen economic boom. Ayodhya, it seems, has opened up its heart, Saisuresh Sivaswamy/Rediff.com discovers on his first day in the city.
Modi alleged that the Congress government in Karnataka gave reservations in tenders based on religion, "snatching the rights of SCs, STs and OBCs." But Ambedkar had said there would not be reservation based on religion and there is a bar on giving reservation on the basis of religion in the Constitution, he stressed.
The orange-strapped watch has a picture of Lord Ram and Hanuman, along with Ayodhya's Ram Janambhoomi Mandir.
"I did not want to take the photograph of Lord Ram but etch his image in my heart instead," said Amit Pathak, a resident of Tulsinagar in Ayodhya, a day ahead of the 'pran pratishtha' ceremony at the Ram temple.
The Ayodhya municipal corporation is grappling with a unique problem: a massive pile of abandoned footwear left behind by devotees at the Ram temple. This issue has arisen due to a change in crowd management measures, leading to a long journey to retrieve shoes for many visitors, causing them to leave the temple barefoot.
The Supreme Court of India has dismissed the bail plea of former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case. The court ruled that there was no merit in his plea for bail or suspension of sentence. Bhatt, along with co-accused Pravinsinh Zala, was found guilty of murder, voluntarily causing hurt, and criminal intimidation by the Gujarat High Court in 2024. The case stems from the death of Prabhudas Vaishnani, who was detained by Bhatt following a communal riot in Jamjodhpur in 1990. Vaishnani's brother alleged that Bhatt and other police officers tortured him in custody, leading to his death.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra has appealed to devotees from nearby areas to postpone their visit to Ayodhya for 15-20 days, citing the large number of devotees flocking to the town since January 26. The trust said this will allow devotees from distant places to have an easier darshan experience. The appeal comes as Ayodhya has witnessed a footfall of around 40 lakh devotees since Monday, choking the roads and bylanes leading to the Ram Temple with huge traffic snarls.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was handed the invite by the RSS's Dhananjay Singh and Karmveer Singh.
'The airport's name 'Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhyadham' pays homage to Maharishi Valmiki, the sage attributed to composing the epic Ramayana, adding a cultural touch to the airport's identity.'
Sachin Tendulkar was elegantly attired in traditional kurta pyjama, exuding cultural reverence at the Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya on Monday.
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