Bhajans and Shlokas were heard as Ayodhya, festooned with marigold flowers and yellow and saffron flags, celebrated the beginning of the construction of a grand Ram temple. Roads leading to Ayodhya were adorned with hoardings of the proposed temple and of Ram Lalla, the infant Ram, the deity now housed in a makeshift temple.
As many as 175 eminent guests including 135 seers attended the Ram Mandir Bhoomi Pujan ceremony on Wednesday.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Mohan Bhagwat - the chief of the BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and around 170 spiritual leaders attended the ceremony. Iqbal Ansari, a litigant in the temple-mosque dispute, was the first person to be invited.
BJP veterans LK Advani - who led the Ram temple movement in the 1990s - and Murli Manohar Joshi watched the event through video-conference because of coronavirus precautions. The Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust, tasked with building the temple, reportedly sent last-minute invites to the two leaders, who were the face of the temple movement.
Uma Bharti, another key BJP leader of the temple campaign, attended the ceremony in Ayodhya after previously saying she would stay away as a coronavirus precaution.
Other prominent names on the guest list included BJP president JP Nadda, MLA Lallu Singh, BJP leader Vinay Katiyar, UP deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, UP Cabinet ministers Suresh Khanna and Chaudhary Lakshmi Narayan Singh, Pawan Singhal from VHP leader Ashok Singhal’s family, Narendra Giri of Akhada Parishad, Sadhvi Ritambhara, yoga guru Ramdev, spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, BHU Jyotish Department HoD Vinay Pandey.
Salil Singhal, the nephew of late VHP leader Ashok Singhal, was the "yajmaan" (ritual patron) at the ceremony. Hindu seers from Nepal also attended the ceremony.
The historic ceremony went on till 2 pm after the inscription of the temple was inaugurated.
On November 9, 2019, the Supreme Court settled the fractious issue going back more than a century and backed the construction of a Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site. It also ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for a mosque in the Hindu holy town.
Delivering an unanimous judgement on a case that had long polarised the country, the court said the faith of the Hindus that Lord Ram was born at the site was undisputed.