Stunning glimpses of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya as seen from the first floor.
Sharma exuded confidence that the BJP will get over 265 out of 403 seats in the state assembly.
Uttar Pradesh's tableau at this year's Republic Day parade was adjudged the best and awarded by Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday, said the Defence Ministry.
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.
BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain was replying to questions by mediapersons on what the party had to say on RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's comment that the Ram Mandir movement had helped BJP but the Sangh was not looking for help from anyone to run its movement.
Dr S Q R Ilyas, head of the BMAC and a senior member of the board, feels that the Sangh Parivar should not have raked up the Ram temple issue. In a candid chat with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Dr Ilyas said the recent proclamation by the RSS, VHP and BJP was a desperate measure to rake up the issue of Hindutva once again
In his annual Vijayadashmi address, the RSS chief also spoke about "urban maoism", the Sabarimala row and the need to strengthen the country's borders.
Bhagwat presented Sangh's views on a number of contentious issue while answering wide-ranging written questions on the last day of the three-day conclave, including on matters like inter-caste marriages, education policy, crimes against women, cow vigilantism.
After clamping down on its yatra on the Ayodhya issue, the Uttar Pradesh government on Monday banned Vishwa Hindu Parishad's proposed 'Sankalp Diwas' stir on October 18 to press for a parliamentary legislation on building Ram temple, fearing a communal flare-up.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has criticised Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani for raising the contentious Ram temple-Babri mosque row before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
The Shankaracharya said the sadhus will begin their march to Ayodhya from Allahabad after Basant Panchami, which falls on February 10.
'The Centre has brought an ordinance on triple talaq. Its duration is of six months. If it is made into a law, then we will challenge this in the Supreme Court.'
A huge contingent of police personnel, including a Rapid Action Force (RAF) team, was deployed in the area to avoid any untoward incident.
A prominent Hindu temple in Canada has been defaced by 'Khalistani extremists' with anti-India graffiti in an apparent hate crime, prompting the Indian mission in Toronto to condemn the incident and urge Canadian authorities to take swift action against the perpetrators.
Party spokesman Satyabrata Chaturvedi accused the BJP and Sangh Parivar of raking the issue for electoral gains.
'This evidence is important to solve the dispute.'
Union Minister Mahesh Sharma said it is the "dream" of the people of the country that Ram Mandir is built as early as possible.
The sweeping victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the Bihar Assembly elections has caused ripples across the country, but perhaps more pronounced in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are due in 2027.
The following is the chronology of events related to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute in which, after the Supreme Court verdict, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday conducted the 'Bhoomi Pujan' or ground breaking ceremony and laid the foundation stone for the temple's construction.
Once Ram temple is built it will become a 'ghoshit (declared) Hindu Rashtra', a VHP leader told the gathering.
'I have prayed for the team that the way we are playing, we keep that up.'
Lal was the director general of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and had found temple-like pillars during excavation at the Ayodhya site where the Ram temple is now being built. Officials said that he was one of the youngest directors general of ASI and served from 1968 to 1972.
"The BJP stands fully committed for the construction of a grand Ram temple at Ayodhya... Litigation is also pending for resolution of this dispute, which may not offer a perfect solution because one party would lose and the other may win. Today, I appeal to the Muslim community to be generous towards the sentiments and feelings of Hindus and facilitate the construction of a grand Ram temple," he said in his presidential address at the two-day national council of the BJP.
'The saffron party is under pressure from RSS and other Hindutva quarters to move swiftly on construction of Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.'
Sheela Bhatt meets RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at a media interaction in New Delhi. She says that while he was rigid on his stand on the Ayodhya issue, he impressed with his simplicity and clarity of thought.
Congress on Saturday attacked senior Bharatiya Janata Party Leader L K Advani for his statement that a Ram temple "should be and will be built at Ayodhya" saying the BJP leader is doing so to "avoid or delay his forced retirement."
Priyanka accused the prime minister of "speaking on unnecessary issues" while staying silent on corruption, unemployment and the alleged misrule under the NDA government in Bihar.
January 22, 2024 has passed into history. Scenes from a day of religious fervour in many parts of India.
Twenty people were on board the pickup vehicle when it rammed into a stationary truck in the service lane of the highway, the SP said, adding that one of the eight injured is in critical condition.
Despite the Hindutva issue failing to cut much ice during the Lok Sabha elections, senior BJP leader L K Advani has renewed his commitment to build a grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya.
'These remarks completely expose the Congress....Rahul Gandhi. They are anti-Hindu'
'The move to appoint a person with a profile, markedly lower than the leader Nitin Nabin will replace, has the potential to put the brakes on the careers of several others in the party and government in the positions they currently hold,' points out Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
In its efforts to re-establish itself as a party espousing the RSS' core Hindutva ideology, the BJP has declared Ayodhya and Vande Mataram its election issues in Uttar Pradesh where Assembly polls are due next year.
Buildings were decorated with colourful lights and earthen lamps dotted houses as people across the country thronged temples and celebrated Diwali with pomp on Monday.
Security has been heightened around the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya following an alleged threat from pro-Khalistan leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The founder of the banned outfit 'Sikhs for Justice' reportedly threatened to attack the temple on November 16-17, coinciding with the 'Ram Vivah' festival. Ayodhya has been fortified with increased police presence, surveillance, and anti-terror measures.
The VHP will accept no new map or proposals on the disputed site and will continue working according to its old plan.
The new Ram Lalla idol was consecrated at the Ayodhya temple on Monday, an event led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and watched by lakhs of people on television at their homes and in temples across the country.
'Every film had its challenges, but Mr India, Sadak and Gandhi were the toughest.' 'Mr India needed imagination, Sadak needed sensitivity and Gandhi demanded historical authenticity.'
Arguing that the Bharatiya Janata Party did not accept his offer for "land" at a place "other than the disputed site" for building the Ram temple, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav accused the saffron party of using the temple issue for electoral gains.
North India is convulsed with spiritual excitement over the pran pratishta at the Ram temple. But what do folks in Tamil Nadu think about the events in Ayodhya?
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