'Are we expected to merely sit outside and applaud when the prime minister installs the idol of Ram Lalla?
In Washington, VHP members took out a tableau truck on Tuesday with the digital image of Ram temple, and went around the Capitol Hill with chanting of slogans "Jai Shree Ram" and moving around the city later.
With an eye on the Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party raked up the Ayodhya Ram temple issue on Saturday in a bid to boost the party's morale in Uttar Pradesh where good performance in the past had helped it capture power at the Centre.
Azam Khan, the president of the group said that they want to help the construction of the temple.
'It is best that an amicable solution to the dispute is found outside the precincts of the courts of law,' says former Union home secretary Dr Madhav Godbole.
"The holy water of the Sharda Kund at the Sharda Peeth PoK was collected by Tanveer Ahmed and his team. Our civil society member across the LoC (Line of Control) carried it to Islamabad, wherefrom it was sent to his daughter Maghribi in the UK.
They said it was then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi who on February 1, 1986 got the permission for starting prayers at the disputed site and got the locks opened.
RSS on Thursday made a series of tweets quoting Bhagwat on the issue.
'We are also running Ram rasoi (kitchen) free of cost for Ram devotees in Ayodhya'
A preliminary probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) into alleged cash theft at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya has revealed 'serious security lapses' and 'systematic' concealment of cash by staff, with around 70 suspicious incidents captured on CCTV.
The newly appointed Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party president Surya Pratap Shahi visited the disputed site in Ayodhya on Friday and vowed to construct a Ram temple there, saying it was something related to the faith of crores of Hindus.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday claimed that the Congress and Samajwadi Party will run a bulldozer over the Ram temple if elected to power, and asked them to take 'tuition' from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath 'where to run bulldozers'.
Despite the Ram Mandir issue failing to cut much ice with voters, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Friday reaffirmed his commitment to building the temple at Ayodhya.
The UP CM's visit comes a day after senior BJP leaders were charged with conspiracy in the Babri Masjid case.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh executive head Bhaiyyaji Joshi has expressed confidence that the Ram temple will be constructed in Ayodhya by the time of next 'Kumbh'.
"There was a Ram temple in Ayodhya and it will exist there in the future, too, and with a grand look," he said.
The prime minister will also visit the Hanuman Garhi temple and the buildings on roads leading to it too are being spruced up.
On the upcoming Ram Temple events, Jamiat said that in light of the recent events linked to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, it deems necessary to draw the attention of the government and law enforcement agencies to concerns about the breach of peace and attempts to "harass and intimidate the minority community."
"The earlier design was made in 1988, now over 30 years have passed and so the footfall will increase with time. People are also very enthusiastic about visiting the temple so we thought its size should be increased. In view of this, the height of the temple has been increased from 141-feet to 161-feet," Nikhil Sompura said.
Led by Muslim Rashtriya Manch, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed Muslim organisation, the group started their journey from Lucknow on January 25, Shahid Saeed, media in-charge of MRM, said on Wednesday.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has sent invitations to 7,000 people, including 3,000 VVIPs, for the consecration.
'For ages Lord Ram's character had served as a source of unity for the entire Indian sub continent.
Kiren Rijiju has strongly criticised the Congress for allegedly 'unfairly disrupting' the recent monsoon session.
Mohan Bhagwat said the temple would be constructed in the same grandeur as it existed before, using the "same stones" under the guidance of those who were the flag-bearers of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement for the last 25 years.
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.
Talking about the donation received by VHP from President Kovind, Alok Kumar said, "He is the first citizen of the country. So we went to him to initiate this drive and he met us with his family and donated a sum of Rs 5,00,100 and gave his good wishes for the success of the mission."
The sanctum sanctorum has been designed in such a way that the rays of the rising sun fall on the idol's forehead, he said.
The event will be marked by prayers to Lord Shiva at the Kuber Tila shrine on the Ram Janmabhoomi site, allocated for the temple in a historic Supreme Court verdict last November.
Swami Giri said the trust has so far collected more than Rs 3200 crore in donations from individuals and organizations within the country.
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.
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 three-day celebrations began on Saturday with a recital of Yajurveda and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath performing an 'abhishek' on the Ram Lalla idol.
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.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal have announced that they will mark the day as Shaurya Diwas and Vijay Diwas (day of victory) and have asked the people to light earthen lamps as on Diwali.
The decision will be taken by the trust in consultation with Shankaracharya Vijayendra Saraswati and other seers, trust functionaries said.
The Lok Sabha's monsoon session concluded on Thursday, marked by relentless opposition protests over critical issues like the NEET paper leak and police action on students, yet saw the passage of several key bills without extensive debate. Home Minister Amit Shah expressed readiness to debate the student protest issue, urging the speaker to allocate time.
Citing a Tamil daily's reportage, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday alleged that the Tamil Nadu government administered temples have barred puja for Lord Ram on the day of the consecration of the grand temple in Ayodhya, which was dismissed by the state as a false news with ulterior motives.
Work on building a pilgrimage facilitation centre and other utilities in Ayodhya's Ram temple complex has started, with 'darshan' of Ram Lalla expected to open in December 2023, according to a senior official of the construction committee.
The height of Ayodhya's grand Ram temple would be 161-feet
The Congress party is set to challenge the Modi government on a range of critical issues, including alleged theft of Ram temple donations, 'systemic corrosion' of the education system, and constitutional amendment bills related to delimitation and dismissal of ministers, during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament.
