As preparations for the January 22 Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya were in progress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the main jajmaan of the event, was visiting temples associated with Lord Ram across the country.
The PM offered prayers at the famous Guruvayur temple and Thriprayar Sree Ramaswami temple in Kerala and sought blessings at the Veerabhadra temple in Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh. This is a famous Ramayana site where Jatayu got maimed while battling Ravana.
The entire nation was deep in devotion of Lord Ram, waiting for the historic ceremony in Ayodhya. Cutting across barriers of caste, creed or place of birth, irrespective of whether he was living in India or outside of it wanted to be a part of the event where a grand temple has come up at Lord Ram’s birthplace.
Decked-up Ayodhya
The holy town of Ayodhya was decorated with fabulous lighting, wall paintings, rangolis and other artwork. Donations in the form of 108-feet-high agarbatti sent from Gujarat, handwoven heritage clothes from Lucknow and chhappan bhog from Agra meant for Lord Ram idol had arrived.
Top astrologer from Varanasi, Ganeshwar Shastry oversaw the rituals leading to the main event, while Pandit Laxmikant Dixit from Kashi was the main priest. Prime Minister Modi was a Jajman, who brought the entire project to fruition.
The Opposition, led by the Congress and some of its regional allies, decided to boycott the inauguration because PM Modi was chosen to lead the ceremony. Their objection was that this made the event political and orchestrated to help the ruling BJP in the run-up to the elections.
The argument is spurious as the temple has come up following the Supreme Court’s unanimous verdict which directed the Union Government to form a non-political trust for construction of the Ram Temple. The Modi Government has merely followed quick implantation of the court directive.
All the decisions regarding the temple construction have been taken by the temple trust, which invited around 7,000 guests from India and abroad. These included leaders of all major parties in India. While all top celebrities accepted the invite, a small band of political leaders announced the boycott.
The naysayers will be hardly missed in the transformed Aydhya, which is on way to become the most favoured global tourist destination, with a state-of-art international airport, a modern railway station and world-class tourist infrastructure.
All doubts dispelled
Neither will the campaign of calumny diminish the joy and zeal of the faithful.
Doubts raised on location of the temple and the observance of the scriptures have already been effectively dispelled.
There is no space for confusion or political slugfest after Ram Temple came up on the basis of the directions of the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment of 2019. All political parties and all communities should welcome it as the final closure of the dispute.
Iqbal Ansari, the main litigant from Muslim side in the Ayodhya case, has shown the way to this. His father fought the case for several decades, but the apex court verdict went in favour of building the Ram temple. Ansari happily accepted the verdict and attended the Pran Pratishtha event on January 22.
