In her first address to a joint sitting of the two Houses in the new Parliament building in which she touched on varied issues ranging from insurgency to inflation, Murmu said a country can progress at a fast pace only when it defeats the challenges of the past and puts maximum energy into building the future.
The UP CM's visit comes a day after senior BJP leaders were charged with conspiracy in the Babri Masjid case.
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.
More than 25 years after the Babri Masjid was destroyed, another generation proclaims its commitment to building a Ram temple.
A lot is being said about the verdict delivered by the special bench of the Allahabad high court in the Ayodhya case. We compile some of the comments made by political and social figures.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said every vote of the electorate in Madhya Pradesh has the power of 'Trishakti', to help the Bharatiya Janata Party form government again in MP, strengthen the PM at the Centre and to keep the 'corrupt' Congress away from power in the state.
'The verdict must be seen as something more; as a historical balm, a moral restitution and the deliverance of justice to a people wronged,' argues Vivek Gumaste.
The decision came a day after the Allahabad high court asked the Centre and the state government to file counter affidavits within a week on a petition challenging the decision to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj.
"We Ram-bhakts, today, as part of this programme, take this pledge that at the earliest, the Ram Mandir be constructed. Jai Shri Ram," the video showed him saying.
Taking a dig at Pakistan without naming it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said a country which was a supplier of aatank (terror) is struggling for aata (flour) these days.
He also accused the Congress of delaying a solution to the Kashmir issue for seven decades.
Will January 22 mark a point of no return for our Constitutional secularism? asks Shekhar Gupta.
He also sought to know why Modi had not visited Ayodhya in the past four-and-a-half years, after becoming the prime minister.
A man playing Lord Hanuman in a 'Ramlila' fell down at the feet of the person portraying Lord Ram for a bit longer, the audience clapped and it seemed a scene well enacted, except that it turned out to be the last performance of the 62-year-old.
'Don't be surprised if the Census forms come with a caste box.' 'I will be surprised if it doesn't. It will be a point conceded to Rahul Gandhi and his allies,' asserts Shekhar Gupta. The BJP machine could take all 3 in its stride, but this election has changed that, notes Shekhar Gupta.
With Ayodhya issue stuck in the quicksand of political and legal quagmire, a retired high court judge is spearheading a movement to resolve the issue peacefully and has claimed to have got the backing of over seven thousand locals -- both Hindus and Muslims.
Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary on Thursday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party has not given up its resolve to form its own government in the state by accepting Janata Dal-United president Nitish Kumar as the chief minister.
'Fifteen days ago, we were only talking of Ayodhya. Now we are talking about farmers.'
'The consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya has demoralised them.' 'And, now it is reflecting in their individual reactions as they are losing hope to take on the BJP in 2024.'
The sole intention of the opposition parties is to create roadblocks on the path of development, the prime minister said, as he termed their action "anti national".
'The Babri Masjid wasn't just a mosque, it was a test of our secularism,' says Jyoti Punwani.
The nation heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday with tempered responses to the Allahabad high court verdict on the Ayodhya title suits and no untoward incident being reported.
The Art of Living founder said that he was involved as a mediator in the RamTemple dispute of his own will and would visit Ayodhya on November 16 to meet all stakeholders.
Invoking the imagery of Goddess Sita and her father Janaka, the king of Mithila of which this north Bihar town became the capital later on, Modi said those who used to taunt the BJP over the delay in construction of Ram temple were now forced to applause.
While the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party hit out at the MLA and the Congress government, Shivakumar seeking to clarify, said no guarantee scheme will be stopped and it will be continued for five years.
During the hearing, the 92-year-old senior lawyer had told the apex court that it must do 'full and complete justice' in all matters before it and that his last wish before he died was to finish the case.
He said God has chosen him as an instrument to represent all Indians during the 'Pran Pratishtha' exercise and that he is undertaking the special religious exercise keeping this in mind.
'Modigate is snowballing into a huge thing with the electorate. The BJP is in for huge punishment by the electorate.'
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday launched a blistering attack on Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Uddhav Thackeray saying he buried the Hindutva ideology of Bal Thackeray for power and joined hands with Congress and socialist parties.
With the surge in tourist footfalls to Varanasi in 2022, it almost rivals the arrivals in Agra and puts it way ahead of Prayagraj and Ayodhya.
While workers of the Shiv Sena shouted that the party belongs to them, those owing allegiance to Uddhav Thackeray responded with "traitors go back" slogans.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
Utkarsh Mishra's impressions of the Narendra Modi roadshow in Varanasi.
Sahim Salim spends a day in Ayodhya and assesses the mood of the residents of the town before and after the verdict.
Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
"We have full confidence in the judicial system of the country. We appeal to the people to respect the verdict of the court and maintain peace and communal harmony in the country," the seminary's deputy vice-chancellor Maulana Abdul Khalique Madrasi said
'Elsewhere in the world, you do not get a second chance to be launched. I think he (Gandhi) has now been launched 19 times'
In an interview with Newsweek magazine of the US, Modi said for India, the relationship with China is significant.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international joint general secretary Surendra Jain on Tuesday warned All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi for his comment on the inauguration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
