Allahabad: Just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to lay the foundation stone for the construction of the Ram temple, a Delhi-based journalist on Thursday filed a public interest litigation (PIL) with the Allahabad High Court challenging the event by stating that it is a violation of the guidelines laid out to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
The PIL filed by Saket Gokhale states that the programme is a violation of the ‘Unlock 2.0’ guidelines and urges the court to defer the event since Covid-19 cases are on the rise in the country.
Stressing on the violation, the petition said that a large number of people will congregate in Ayodhya for the ground-breaking ceremony, and with the Prime Minister, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and several other dignitaries being there, it will be a clear defiance of the counter-Covid rules laid out by the Centre and Union Home Ministry.
If the High Court accepts the petition, it could presumably defer the construction of the Ram temple.
Prime Minister Modi would be laying the foundation stone of the Ram Mandir on August 5 but Treasurer of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra Trust, Swami Govind Dev Giri, had earlier this week claimed that all social distancing norms would be followed during the event as not more than 200 attendees would be joining the PM.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of Ram Temple on August 5. To ensure social distancing at the programme, we have decided that there will not be more than 200 people, including 150 invitees (at the event),” Giri told here.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Assembly Protem Speaker and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rameshwar Sharma on Wednesday said that PM Modi’s foundation stone-laying ceremony will mark the beginning of the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The highly-anticipated, ‘magnificent’ Ram temple that millions of Hindus are eagerly waiting for is soon set to become a reality after Prime Minister Narendra lays the foundation stone for the Mandir in Ayodhya on August 5.
Swami Govinda Dev Giri Maharaj, the treasurer of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust announced on Wednesday that earlier PM Modi was planning to attend the programme online due to the impending coronavirus crisis, but at his behest decided to attend the ‘bhoomi pujan’ in person.
“This moment was awaited for the last five centuries and he (Modi) also shares the same feeling. Modiji has…nationalism in him and that is why he is going. You will see there will be a wave of happiness in the country,” he said.
Vishva Hindu Parishad chief Ashok Singhal has entrusted renowned architect Chandrakant Sompura and his sons the responsibility to design the Ram Mandir. The completion of the temple is expected to take around three-and-a-half years.
“The Ram Lalla temple be in the form of a Naga. We have just extended the old design. My father had designed this 30 years ago and we are just extending that design – the shikhar, gud mandap, etc., are all the same,” he said.
According to the new design, while the previous plan was to construct a 141-feet tall structure, according to the current plan, the temple will now reach a height of 161 feet.
“Given the change in times and increase in population, we realised that we need to equip the temple to handle such a footfall. So, we increased the floor area of the temple. The ground floor will house Ram Lalla, the second floor will have a Ram Darbar and the third floor has been constructed to accommodate the other increase in spaces of the structure,” he added.
Additionally, the temple is also going to have three mandaps or stages – Rangg mandap, Nritya mandap and Gud mandap (which will be closed from all sides). After that would be the Garbh grah (the darkest space).
“The idea behind this was that as you proceed towards the deity, it should get darker so that your focus will be only on God,” Ashish Sompura said.
