Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday laid a 40-kg silver brick for a grand Ram temple at Ayodhya after participating in a ‘Bhoomi Puja’ – a groundbreaking ceremony- attended mostly by spiritual leaders.
With this, the long-pending Ram temple issue at Ayodhya has been settled. The temple is coming up in a place where once the Babri Masjid, which was demolished in 1992, stood.
The Supreme court in November last year paved the way for construction of the Ram temple by handing over the disputed land to the Hindus and giving an alternative plot of land to the Muslims.
Since 1992, Indian politics has been heavily influenced by the Ram temple issue with the BJP at the forefront. The saffron party owes it to the Ram temple movement for its rise in national politics. Now that it has been resolved, one hopes that the country will move ahead. The Muslims have accepted the court verdict and have not said a word against the construction of the temple. Both the sides and India as a nation should look forward to the future.
The last 20 years have been painful for everyone. The demolition of Babri Masjid, followed by communal riots across the country has caused immense pain to the nation. It is time to heal the wounds and move ahead. Also, it is time the BJP stops mixing religion, politics and governance. Their blatant majority appeasement is doing a lot of harm to the social fabric of the nation. They should concentrate more on governance than religious issues.