'During the election period, Modi did not refer to the government as 'Government of India'...it used to be called Modi Sarkar, Modi's guarantee. Today that Modi guarantee is no longer there'
The chief minister will also pray at the nearby Hanuman Garhi temple on Wednesday.
As BJP leaders went all out to project the event as a moment of national pride, some leaders were directly critical of the ceremony with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, belonging to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, slamming the state's role in the Ram Temple consecration, saying the line that demarcates religion and state seems to be 'getting thinner and thinner'.
The temple trust shared the incident, that took place on Tuesday night, on its official 'X' handle.
The notable names in the BJP's first list include Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Hema Malini from Mathura, Ajay Mishra Teni from Kheri, Smriti Irani from Amethi, Lallu Singh from Faizabad (Ayodhya) and Mahendra Nath Pandey from Chandauli among others.
In addition to these temple models, metallic rings, lockets and other cloth items bearing Lord Ram's name are flying off the shelves in Ayodhya, according to shopkeepers.
A war of words has erupted in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh after the Congress objected to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party putting up hoardings taking credit for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who has been part of several landmark Supreme Court judgements such as scrapping the electoral bonds scheme and upholding abrogation of Article 370, will be sworn in as the 51st Chief Justice of India on Monday.
Leading the campaign in Bengaluru, MLA and former minister V Sunil Kumar staged a sit-in demonstration near the Sadashivanagar police station, amid chants of "Jai Sri Ram" by BJP workers.
'Shankaracharyas look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP through a political prism. This temple is not built on politics but on religion. Ram is our God'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday declared 13 candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls including actor Arun Govil, who played Lord Ram in popular TV serial Ramayan, from Meerut, while replacing sitting MP Varun Gandhi from Pilibhit with state minister Jitin Prasada.
From the time he first rose to prominence during the movement against the then UPA government, Arvind Kejriwal has regularly grabbed headlines for his surprise moves and decisions. Here are 10 such instances.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said 13 persons were detained for an alleged assault on a group of persons taking out a vehicle rally in Mira Bhayander area adjoining Mumbai on the eve of the Ram Temple idol consecration in Ayodhya.
20 years after the Babri demolition, Ayodhya stands disabled, dilapidated with no development and no jobs. Devjyot Ghoshal reports
What some of our leaders were up to this week.
'We are going to need more technical people in government.' 'You can't expect a generalist to understand the complicated world of financial engineering.' 'I regret to say that most of our politicians have no competence to deal with these things. Nor is there a willingness to learn.'
Nakul Nath's move has added fuel to rumours swirling for the last few days that he, along with his father, are defecting to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The BJP finalised its candidates for 172 assembly seats in UP and is likely to field both Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya who are currently MLCs.
Several opposition parties have claimed that the mandate of 2024 Lok Sabha elections was against the ruling haratiya Janata Party, even though it was able to form the government with support of other parties.
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).
'Are we expected to merely sit outside and applaud when the prime minister installs the idol of Ram Lalla?
President Murmu reached the new Parliament building in a six-horse buggy accompanied by the Presidential Bodyguards riding horses.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Sunday inaugurated its controversial yatra from Ayodhya amidst a massive crackdown launched by the Uttar Pradesh administration which has arrested senior VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia, and over 500 people.
'They hate him so much that if PM Modi says the Sun rises in the east the Congress will say the Sun rises in the west.'
The chief justice, who received a WhatsApp message about the case, heard the matter at his residence at 8 pm on Sunday and gave directions to constitute a bench comprising himself and Justice Srivastava.
In his report, Justice Liberhan said the senior police officers were at hand to ensure that their men toed the line and that the demolition of the disputed structure was allowed to go ahead with "military precision as orchestrated by the leaders present at the spot and carried out by their henchmen."
It also saw the suspension of 100 members in a span of four days for unruly conduct and a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he wants the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance to win 400 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls to ensure the Congress does not bring back Article 370 in Kashmir and put a 'Babri lock' on the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
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.
The prime minister made these remarks at a meeting of the council of ministers, while asserting the need to maintain an atmosphere of amity and harmony in the country.
Reacting to the results, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that in the by-elections held on 13 seats in seven states, the people of the country have given their support to the INDIA bloc.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Maneka Gandhi on Saturday indicated that her son Varun Gandhi's writings that were sometimes critical of the government may have cost him the party's Lok Sabha ticket from Pilibhit but asserted that he would do very well even without it.
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.
The bench said after perusing the report, if it came to a conclusion that an amicable solution through mediation was not possible, then the apex court would commence day-to-day hearing in the matter from July 25.
While about 8,000 people are in the long list of invitees, the select list features 506 A-listers, including prominent politicians, leading industrialists, top film stars, sportspersons, diplomats, judges and high priests.
Both the BJP and the Congress have their share of challenges, with finding winning horses on top of this list.
'The Babri Masjid wasn't just a mosque, it was a test of our secularism,' says Jyoti Punwani.
'How can someone who has never been associated with the movement and never had darshan of Ram Lalla mediate on the matter of temple construction? We have gone to jail for it, faced house arrest and have been fighting court cases. Sri Sri does not qualify to mediate on the matter.'
On June 26, for the likes of me, the music died. Any impression of potential change held forth by the outcome of the 2024 general election, was vaporised, reveals Shyam G Menon.
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.
