Invitees to the 'pran pratishtha' consecration ceremony at the Ram temple started arriving Sunday in Ayodhya -- once a sleepy town now resplendent with new infrastructure and gripped by heightened religious fervour on the eve of a seminal event in India's political and religious history.
As the temple is inaugurated, unfortunately for Advani but unsurprisingly for the rest of us, the architect of the party's rise will not lead the ceremony and claim credit for his achievement, notes Aakar Patel.
One of the main litigants from the Hindu side Jitendra Singh Visen has announced that he and his family are withdrawing from all cases related to the Gynavapi issue due to alleged 'harassment'.
'They are happy for the Hindu community as Ram Lalla is consecrated in Ayodhya.'
'Many cheques might have bounced due to spelling mistakes or signature mismatch or any other technical reasons. Cheques which bounced due to petty technical reasons would be presented again with the bank'
'I am the worker of RSS, and the RSS never condemned Bharat Jodo Yatra'
This visit by the prime minister comes weeks ahead of the 'pran pratishtha' or consecration ceremony of the Ram temple.
'We should not underestimate the power of Hindutva.'
Several states declared a holiday for schools, while government offices, other establishments and public sector banks remained closed for half a day.
The Supreme Court will hear on April 5 a batch of PILs challenging the validity of certain provisions of a 1991 law that prohibits filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.
In an interview, he recalled how Hashim Ansari, one of the original litigants in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, took him to the mosque on his bicycle.
The VHP president said that it is beyond understanding that the administration is denying permission for a peaceful Yatra.
The Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation, which has been set up for the construction of the mosque, will build a mosque along with a hospital, library, community kitchen and research institute, on the land.
"It is the greatness of Ayodhya that the mosques surrounding the Ram temple are giving a strong message of communal harmony to the rest of the world," Haji Asad Ahmad, the corporator of the Ram Kot ward, told PTI.
In the recent past, Adityanath and the RSS seem to have come closer. The warmth is more on the part of the RSS. And even now, not all requests from the RSS are accommodated by the UP government, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Modi wants the BJP to gets an additional 10% of the vote share from what it won in 2019. Plans are afoot to get new faces to replace MPs with poor chances of winning. Sources say more than 100 MPs are like to be axed, notes Modi biographer Ramesh Menon.
The Allahabad high court on Thursday reserved till August 3 its order on a plea against the survey of Gyanvapi mosque premises by the Archeological Survey of India.
'A time will come when the white structure in Mathura that hurts every Hindu will be removed with the help of the court'
'During the nine years of BJP rule, not a single temple has been reconstructed.' 'They might have constructed the Ram temple as it is an emotional issue. But they are not much interested in issues like heritage.'
Patil revealed that CM Shinde called him on Tuesday morning after his remarks caused a row and asked him to clarify.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take part in an event related to the pran pratishtha on any day during January 20-24.
The hearing of the civil suit filed in a Mathura court seeking ownership of the entire 13.37 acres of Krishna Janmabhoomi land has been adjourned till December 10, after the plaintiff in the case, Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust, failed to appear before the court on Wednesday.
A revealing excerpt from Mani Shankar Aiyar's fascinating new book, The Rajiv I Knew.
Samajwadi Party leader Tej Narayan Pandey on Sunday accused Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust of committing corruption in a land deal and sought a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the matter.
Gautam said, "If he is Ram's avatar, then Rahul Gandhi should tell his sena what he consumes that he doesn't feel cold, why doesn't his sena roam without clothes... Congressmen should roam naked as Lord Ram's sena did."
Prior to the function, the prime minister will take part in 'pooja' and 'darshan' at Hanumangarhi, a statement by the PMO said on Tuesday.
The temple town is likely to witness a major jump in tourist inflow once flagship projects are commissioned. In the first six months of 2022, more than 20 million tourists visited Ayodhya.
Unlike in the past, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad is not celebrating any "Shaurya Diwas" (Bravery Day) on Tuesday and there are no plans by the Muslim community to observe a "Black Day".
"Do you remember that 'kar sevaks' were shot in Ayodhya and bodies were thrown into the Saryu," he said referring to a 1990 incident during the SP regime while addressing a rally at Government Inter College in Faizabad.
Despite the national capital recording its best air quality on Diwali day in eight years, pollution levels may rise due to low night temperatures and sporadic burning of firecrackers though there is a ban on their manufacture, storage, sale and use within the city.
Kamra had shared the purported video of Modi's interaction in Germany with the child but he replaced the song that the boy sang -- 'Janmabhoomi Bharat' -- with "Mehengayi daayan khaaye jaat hain", a Bollywood song about price rise.
Mathura has a prominent mosque -- the Shahi Idgah -- located next to a temple, believed to be the site of the birthplace of Lord Krishna. The mosque has been at the centre of a legal battle for years with Hindu groups claiming that the Idgah was built on land where Lord Krishna was born.
Khan, a local politician and social worker, has been openly pro-temple during the bitter temple-mosque dispute. But there are other signs that his community wants to move on, beyond the dispute that many Hindus and Muslims feel held Ayodhya back.
The time capsule, enlisting the history and facts related to the Ram Janmabhoomi, will be placed thousands of feet below the construction site. It will be done in order to ensure that there are no disputes in the future. A grand Ram Temple will be built here and all arrangements are in place for Bhoomi Pujan.
The construction of the temple is expected to be completed by December 2023 and Lord Ram is expected to be seated in the sanctum sanctorum by the Makar Sankranti festival in January 2024.
The 1991 provision is an Act to prohibit conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
The Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust is conducting a mass contact and contribution campaign for the construction of the grand temple in Ayodhya which began on January 15 and will go on till February 27.
What some of our leaders were up to over the weekend.
'We are also running Ram rasoi (kitchen) free of cost for Ram devotees in Ayodhya'
After paying obeisance to Ramlalla and overseeing the construction work of the temple, Shinde said he is happy that the dream of "Hindu Hriday Samrat" Balasaheb Thackeray and crores of Ram bhakts is being fulfilled.