RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were among those who attended the event at the site where a large number of devout Hindus believe Lord Ram was born.

The guest list, including religious leaders, who was part of the movement that started in the 1980s, was restricted to 175 in view of the COVID-19 crisis. The seating arrangements were made in accordance with covid protocols.

As a priest chanted Sanskrit ‘shlokas’ and the ground-breaking ceremony got under way under a giant marquee decorated in shades of reds and yellows, Modi and the other dignitaries, all in masks, maintained social distancing and sat a safe distance away from each other.

The Prime Minister laid down a silver brick to mark the foundation ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech said that the wait of centuries has ended. The construction of the Ram temple, he said, is an instrument to unite the country. The Ram temple construction will lift the economy of the entire region, he said. The prime minister unveiled a plaque and released a commemorative postal stamp.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi through Twitter said Lord Ram is a manifestation of the best human qualities.

In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi wrote in Hindi, he said, “Lord Ram is the manifestation of the best human qualities. They are the core of humanity in the depths of our mind.”

“Ram is love. It can never appear in disgust; Ram is compassion. It can never appear cruel; Ram is justice. It can never appear in injustice,” Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter.

मर्यादा पुरुषोत्तम भगवान राम सर्वोत्तम मानवीय गुणों का स्वरूप हैं। वे हमारे मन की गहराइयों में बसी मानवता की मूल भावना हैं।

राम प्रेम हैं
वे कभी घृणा में प्रकट नहीं हो सकते

राम करुणा हैं
वे कभी क्रूरता में प्रकट नहीं हो सकते

राम न्याय हैं
वे कभी अन्याय में प्रकट नहीं हो सकते।

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 5, 2020

Ahead of the ceremony, Ayodhya has been decked up and painted in yellow- an auspicious colour of knowledge and learning. In the eve of the ceremony, all local temples started a continuous Akhand Ramayan recitation with temples and homes being lit as in Diwali. The same will continue August 5 night.

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While she will be in Ayodhya, she said that she will visit the site only after the event was over.

Bharti’s announcement comes a day after Home Minister Amit Shah announced that he had tested positive for coronavirus.

The ground- breaking ceremony aka bhumi pujan for the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya is only a few days away. Security arrangements and preparations for the foundations stone-laying ceremony which happens on August 5, are in full swing.

Many have expressed fears of overcrowding of the event and possibility of spread in covid-19 infections, despite the temple trust’s decision to cap the limit of invitees to 170-180.

Earlier 15 policemen and an assistant priest, who were involved in the preparation of the event, had tested positive for coronavirus.

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A Malayali, KKK Nair alias Kishnakumar Karunakaran Nair, of Kainikari in Alappuzha district, was responsible for the appearance of the Ram idol at Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

Born on September 11, 1907, KKK Nair was an officer of the Imperial Civil Service during the British rule, equivalent to the Indian Administrative Service. Nair, a 1930 batch ICS officer, married Shakuntala, a native of Dehradun, in 1946. Thus Shakuntala became Shakuntala Nair.

A staunch Hindu, Nair had personal connections with Hindu leaders like Pateshwari Prasad Singh, Mahad Digvijay Nath and Abhiram Das. The idea of seizing temples destroyed or taken over by foreigners and Mughal emperors at the behest of V.D. Savarkar was being widely discussed at the time. Nair assured all possible help and support in this endeavour. In 1945, KKK Nair met Guru Dutt Singh. Both were great devotees of Ram. Strong ties with Hindu leaders led to the decision to capture the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

When Pateshwari Pratap Singh founded the Ram Rajya Parishad in 1948, he made a special invitation to his friend Nair. In 1948, Guru Dutt Singh, a close friend of Nair, was appointed Faizabad City Magistrate. Making use of his personal influence, on June 1, 1949, Nair was appointed Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate of Faizabad, including Ayodhya.

The duo reached an agreement to instal an idol of Lord Rama inside the Masjid. The Babri Masjid was guarded at night by a Hindu and a Muslim. Singh was able to entice the Hindu guard. Abdul Barkat, a Muslim hawaldar, was forced to cooperate on being threatened with death.

At 11 pm on December 22, 1949, a small Ram Lal (idol of Lord Rama), seven inches high, was erected inside the Babri Masjid by Pandit and wrestler Abhiram Das along with a few Hindu sannyasins. The two guards cooperated. News was widely spread that an idol of Lord Ram has appeared inside the Babri Masjid. Faizabad District Magistrate KKK Nair and Faizabad City Magistrate Guru Dutt Singh were with Das and others on that night. News spread that the idol of Lord Rama had appeared by itself. The next day, there was a huge crowd of Hindu devotees at the masjid. Crowds flocked to see the idol of Lord Rama inside the mosque. Nair’s wife Shakuntala Nair led the Shri Rama Bhajan in the mosque.

The Faizabad District Magistrate and the Faizabad City Magistrate delayed reporting the incident in Ayodhya to the authorities on time. The then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, through Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Govind Ballabh Pant, ordered the removal of the idol of Lord Rama from Babri Masjid and the handing over of the mosque to Muslims to avoid clashes in the area.

Ignoring the order of the then Prime Minister and the then Chief Minister, Nair closed the Babri Masjid using his power as the District Magistrate and brought it under receiver rule. Nair was suspended from service for disobeying the Prime Minister’s directive.

In the ensuing 1952 parliamentary elections, the All India Hindu Mahasabha won four seats. NC Chatterjee, father of late Communist leader and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, was elected from Hooghly in West Bengal and Shakuntala Nair, wife of KKK Nair, was elected from Gonda in Uttar Pradesh. In 1962, Shakuntala was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. Faizabad City Magistrate Guru Dutt Singh had to resign after the Ayodhya mosque was closed due to the idol dispute. Singh resigned after KK Nair’s suspension and when he saw that action against him was imminent.

Nair, who returned to ICS service after a long legal battle, faced many challenges. Nair finally resigned from the service in 1952. Later, Nair served as an advocate in the Allahabad High Court. Guru Dutt Singh joined the Hindu Nationalist Party and became its leader. Later, he was the district chief of Jana Sangh in Faizabad.

Nair’s wife Shakuntala Nair was elected to the Lok Sabha for the second time in 1967 and the third time in 1971 from Kisharganj. In the Fourth Lok Sabha in 1967, KKK Nair was elected to Parliament from the Bahraich Lok Sabha constituency as a representative of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Thus the husband and wife have a history of becoming members of the fourth parliament together. KKK Nair passed away on September 7, 1977.

The post Malayali touch in the Babri Masjid controversy appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

Pradeep Das, the assistant to the chief priest said he had tested positive for COVID-19.

The 16 policemen who tested positive were engaged in security duties at the Ram Janmabhoomi complex.
Last week, Yogi Adiyanath had visited the place to see the preparations and the priest infected with coronavirus were present with him.

Following the event, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust has decided to get the entire Ram Janmabhoomi campus sanitised on a daily basis. The trust said that the programme will be however held as planned, maintaining all the covid safety protocols.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the ceremony along with 50VIPs. Diwali-like preparations were in full swing for the ceremony, including a helipad for the PM, three kilometers from the Ram Janmabhoomi site.

Around 200 people will be present for the ceremony at the complex which interestingly is a stark contrast to the covid safety protocols which strictly allow only 50 people in a public ceremony.

Giant CCTV screens have been erected across Ayodhya so the devotees can watch the programme.

The Trust- set up on the directions of the Supreme Court to facilitate the construction of the temple- finalised a date of opening earlier this month. Due to the pandemic lockdown, the opening was delayed.

Currently Ayodhya has 375 active cases of coronavirus, Uttar Pradesh has 29,997 cases.

Meanwhile images of Lord Ram and 3D portraits of the grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya will be beamed across the giant billboards in the iconic Times Square in New York on August 5, to celebrate the ground breaking ceremony.

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