PM Modi to attend Ayodhya's Ram temple consecration ceremony on January 22

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Ram temple consecration ceremony on January 22, 2024. In a tweet, he said office bearers of Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust had come to meet him at his residence and invited him to come to Ayodhya for the consecration ceremony, which is to be held on January 22. "I feel very blessed. It is my good fortune that in my lifetime, I will witness this historic occasion," he said.

The construction of the Ram temple complex has been going on and the ground floor of the three-storey temple will be completed by December-end. In an interview with PTI, temple Construction Committee Chairperson Nripendra Mishra last month said that work was underway to design an apparatus that would be installed on the 'shikhar' of the temple, which will make sun rays fall momentarily on the forehead of the deity in the sanctum sanctorum on the day of Ram Navami every year. It is being built in Bengaluru and its design is being overseen by scientists, he added, adding that the Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, and an institute in Pune have jointly created a computerised programme for this.

The built-up area of the temple is 2.5 acres and if one includes the 'parikrama path' the total area of the complex is about eight acres. Ninety bronze panels will depict the life and duties performed by Lord Ram, Mishra had said. He also said about Rs 900 crore had been spent so far on the temple's construction, and it was estimated that about Rs 1,700 crore to 1,800 crore would be spent on the overall construction of the complex.

Mishra said some artefacts were unearthed during excavations by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) and some objects were found during the temple's groundbreaking and construction work. Some of these items have been placed safely under the custody of the trust, Mishra said. "After taking permission from the ASI, we will display these in a proposed museum."

According to PTI, the temple trust has decided to start the process of the consecration of Ram Lalla after Makar Sankranti on January 14, and observe a 10-day ritual of Ram Lalla's 'pran pratishtha' (consecration). The Ram temple is likely to open for devotees on January 24 after the consecration of Ram Lalla idol, Mishra had said in June.