PM At Ram Temple Inauguration Today, History At Ayodhya

The consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a 50-year-project of the BJP and long awaited by many, will take place today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fly to Ayodhya to participate in the ceremony, which will be telecast live.

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The consecration ceremony will be celebrated across the country and Indians abroad with special prayers and various programmes at local temples. The occasion has been hailed as a Diwali -- the festivities that marked Lord Ram's homecoming after the battle with Ravan and temples and houses have been strung with festive lighting.

PM Modi has been observing a series of strict 11-day religious rituals to prepare for the consecration ceremony at noon. He will also address the gathering on the occasion, read a statement from his office.

"The historic Pran Pratishtha ceremony will be attended by representatives of all major spiritual and religious sects of the country. People from all walks of life including representatives of various tribal communities will also attend the ceremony," read the statement.

PM Modi will interact with labourers who have been building the Ram temple. He would also visit Kuber Tila, where the ancient temple of Lord Shiv has been restored, and offer prayers.

The 380x250 feet temple is being built in the traditional north-Indian Nagara style. Its 392 pillars, 44 doors and walls have elaborate carvings of gods and goddesses. The idol of five-year-old Lord Ram has been placed at the sanctum sanctorum. The Kuber Tila stands at the southwestern part of the complex. Near the temple is a well (Sita koop), believed to be dating back to the ancient era.

Various leaders of the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have already been camping out at Ayodhya, which has prepared to receive over 11,000 visitors. Over the last weeks, the sleepy temple town has had an international airport and a renovated railway station. Hotels, guest houses and homestays have mushroomed, bursting it at the seams and bringing in the long awaited economic boom.

The opening of the Ram temple -- which has been at the heart of a decades-long political storm -- has been cold-shouldered by most Opposition parties including the Congress, Left, Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party, which accused the BJP of gaining political mileage from religion on an election year.

The BJP has hit back, censuring all who declined the invite, including the Congress's Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Calling the parties anti-Hindu, the BJP has declared that they will get their punishment from the people at the hustings.

The event has also drawn other controversies -- including the one that involves the Shankaracharyes of four premier monasteries staying away. The Puri and Joshimath Shankaracharyas have said consecration of an incomplete temple cannot be held. They have also questioned why PM Modi will be inside the sanctum sanctorum when the Shankaracharyas have been allotted seats outside. The event, they have alleged, is being given a political angle.

The building of the temple started after the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment of 2019, awarded the disputed land for a temple and asked that Muslims be given an alternate plot for a mosque. The matter, which went to court shortly after Independence, had escalated after hundreds of Karsevaks razed a 16th Century mosque on the site, believing it was built over a temple marking the birthplace of Lord Ram.