Ram Mandir Inauguration LIVE
In an interview with The Indian Express', the BJP leader added: 'India is a deeply religious country, and respect for all religions is an integral part of the Indian ethos. Rig Veda says 'Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti' which means truth is one but interpreted differently. You have your perceptions, you have to respect my path, and I will respect yours. The ultimate truth is permanent, eternal and omnipresent. That's the real core.”
He said that India would never become a theocratic nation.
Ayodhya Ram Mandir: A look at the preparations for the consecration ceremony
Several videos and images have emerged from BJP-ruled states, where people are celebrating the inauguration of the Ram temple with fury.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has fasted for 11 days and is visiting temples across the country ahead of the January 22 ceremony.
Ayodhya Ram Mandir: Date, aarti timings, darshan and other details here
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, karyakartas and supporters have explicitly expressed their joy over the grand ceremony. However, the Opposition has targeted the central government saying the line between the state and religion has been blurred, accusing the BJP of playing politics in the name of Lord Ram in a bid to win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections .
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Prasad, however, told the English newspaper that “congratulating the grand ceremony and arranging it does not mean blurring the lines.” So many people come and the machinery only facilitates them. Should religious places in India be filled with dirt? Why can't our religious places become extraordinary, like the Vatican? Ayodhya is sacred to the Hindus. The priests are there, (but) Modi, our Prime Minister, is a Ram bhakt after all.”
Prasad, who opposed the views of India's first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, said Modi “is going there as a true worshiper of Lord Ram, and he is following the required discipline for that”.
Notably, Prasad was a lawyer at the Patna High Court when (LK) Advaniji was arrested during Rath Yatra in Bihar. Advani's Rath Yatra of the 1990s set the stage for the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in Indian political history.
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Prasad told The Indian Express that Advani never wanted bail but permission to go to New Delhi to vote for the no-confidence motion against Vice President Singh's government.
“Lalu Prasad (the then Bihar CM) became a champion by arresting him, Mulayam Singh Yadav became the champion of secular politics by firing at kar sevaks… And we started rising in the political landscape,” he said.
Prasad said the Ram temple is being constructed following a Supreme Court order.
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'There is ample evidence available that despite the erection of the so-called disputed structure, the faith of the Hindus never wavered at the birthplace of Lord Ram. They went there and bowed their heads to it, for which there are accounts by travelers and Christian missionaries. The findings of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) also clearly revealed that the Babri Mosque was built on the ruins of a very ancient temple of the 8th-9th centuries. the temple was used in it,” Prasad added.
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The consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple will be held after the first phase of the temple's construction, made possible by a landmark 2019 Supreme Court judgment on the temple-mosque dispute. The Hindu litigants argued that the Babri Mosque was built on the site of a temple that marked the birthplace of Lord Ram.
In 1992, the 16th century mosque was demolished by 'kar sevaks'.
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Published: Jan 20, 2024 09:31 IST