Ayodhya Ram Mandir Inauguration LIVE Updates: The Pran Pratishtha ceremony to unveil the statue of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya on Monday, 22 January, concluded after PM Narendra Modi addressed the nation. Calling it a new beginning, PM Modi said that the country's 500-year-long wait to is now over.
Watch The Quint's LIVE with Faye D'Souza on Ram Mandir inauguration here.
The Ram Lalla idol was unveiled after the consecration ceremony in the presence of PM Narendra Modi (who is the Chief Yajman) and RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat, among other state dignataries and celebrities.
PM Modi presided over the 'Pran Pratishtha' rituals at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple, concluding 11-day visits to several temples ahead of the ceremony. The grant event in Ayodhya was attended by nearly 8,000 VIP guests.
The Ayodhya Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid issue is one of the most controversial land disputes in India, which was settled in 2019 with the Supreme Court delivering a verdict paving the way for the construction of the temple, built on the site of the Masjid.
Here are some images of the ceremony being presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the presence of RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat.
Addressing the nation after the Pran Pratishtha ceremony, PM Modi said, "Our Ram Lalla won't live in tents now. He'll live in this pious temple."
PM Modi said, "Ram is the consciousness of India, Ram is the thinking of India. Ram is the prestige of India, Ram is the glory of India."
"This moment is divine, this moment is the holiest of all. Ram is everyone's. He is eternity," said PM Modi.
PM Modi added, "22 January is not just a date. But it's the beginning of a new era."
Who attended the event? Politicians like HD Deve Gowda, N Chandrababu Naidu, RS Prasad, Yogi Adityanath, Keshav Prasad Maurya, among others.
So have celebrities, sportspersons, and industrialists like Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Abhishek Bachchan, Anu Malik, Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan, Hariharan, Kailash Kher, Sachin Tendulkar, Saina Nehwal, Mithali Raj, Anil Kumble, Sonu Nigam, Vivek Oberoi, Anil Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, etc.
BJP leader LK Advani, who has been at the forefront of the Ram Mandir movement, is not attending the Pran Pratishtha ceremony.
Who did not attend? Arguing that it was “clearly an RSS-BJP event”, the Congress “respectfully declined” the invitation. Additional, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar confirmed that they will not be attending the event.
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'Lord Ram Has Sat on His Throne': Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw
While lighting diyas at his residence in New Delhi on the occasion of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya's Ram Mandir, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said:
“This is a historic day. 500 years of ‘tapasya’ has finally proved successful. Lord Ram has sat on his throne. We have broken free from the chains of slavery mentality,”
Fireworks at Jhandewalan Temple To Celebrate Ayodhya Ram Temple
Fireworks witnessed at New Delhi's Jhandewalan Temple as devotees celebrate the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha ceremony
'Entire World Has Become Devoted To Lord Ram': Delhi L-G VK Saxena
"The entire world has become devoted to Lord Ram following the inauguration of Ram Temple by PM Modi in Ayodhya,” Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena said, news agency PTI reported.
Ram Lalla and Modi’s Trial by Fire: What Ayodhya Ceremony Means for the Republic
What happens to an ambitious country that has one eye on a glorious past that stretches thousands of years back and another on an emerging future full of confounding new technologies? Will it take a magnificent leap across time? Or will it suffer, torn between heritage and modernity?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Indians to straddle the two ends of legacy and modernity after he installed and breathed spiritual life into a black stone idol of Lord Rama in a ceremony run with military precision and symbolic of a Hindu Renaissance or resurgence.
Read Madhavan Narayanan's opinion piece here.