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Union Cabinet congratulates Modi for historic Ram Temple consecration
Defence minister Rajnath Singh said such an occasion has never occurred because the work accomplished through Modi is unparalleled in history
The historic and successful consecration of Ayodhya’s Ram Temple fulfilled a centuries-old dream of the people, the Union Cabinet said on Wednesday as it adopted a resolution congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for it.
Union minister Anurag Thakur told reporters that his senior Cabinet colleague Rajnath Singh read out a resolution on behalf of his ministerial colleagues as soon as the Cabinet met. “...Cabinet meeting was held under the chairmanship of PM Narendra Modi. At the beginning of the meeting, on behalf of the Cabinet, defense minister Rajnath Singh expressed gratitude to the PM for the successful Pran Pratishtha ceremony,” Thakur said.
Singh called Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting a historic one. He referred to the consecration ceremony and said several historic things have taken place since the Cabinet system came into being in India. Singh added such an occasion has never occurred because the work accomplished through Modi is unparalleled in history. He called Lord Ram idol’s consecration at the Ayodhya temple on Monday a Modi-led landmark event.
“In 1947, the body of the country attained independence, and but Pran Pratishtha of its soul was on January 22, 2024 [when the temple was inaugurated],” Thakur said, citing Singh.
“You [Modi] have fulfilled the Indian civilisation’s centuries-old dream of the last five centuries. Ram Janmabhoomi movement was the only movement in independent India in which the entire nation was united...The mass movement we are seeing for Lord Ram is the beginning of a new era ... a new narrative,” he said.
Modi on Monday opened the temple in Ayodhya, turning the page on arguably India’s most fractious dispute and fulfilling one of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) core electoral promises.
Modi presided over the ceremony dedicated to the 51-inch black stone idol of the five-year-old god, or Ram Lalla, in front of a thousands-strong crowd comprising India’s most celebrated dignitaries. He spent nearly 40 minutes delivering a rousing speech where he fused faith and governance, transforming the holy moment into a milestone for nation-building and laying a road map for the future course of India.
Carrying a silver “chattra”, or umbrella, for the deity, Modi cantered up 32 steps to enter the temple around 12.10pm on a crisp chilly day with the winter sun shining down on the 8,000-odd guests comprising top industrialists, sportspersons, politicians, film stars, writers and journalists, and ascetics.
He walked through five halls, or “mandaps”, decorated with yellow and saffron marigold flowers amid chants of “Jai Shri Ram”. Dressed in a cream kurta paired with a dhoti and patka, he took the pledge for the consecration ceremony and later offered the first prayers to the deity.
“This is a temple of national consciousness in the form of Ram. Lord Ram is India’s faith, foundation, idea, law, consciousness, thinking, prestige and glory,” he said as the crowd broke into applause.
Built in the traditional Nagara style of architecture with intricate carvings of deities adorning its white marble walls, the temple spans 380 feet in length and 250 feet in width, with its tallest spire at 161 feet. Supported by 392 columns and accessible through 44 doors, the temple is built on the 2.77-acre plot which Hindus believe to be the birthplace of Lord Ram and which was locked away behind the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute for 150 years, before the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict in 2019.
The opening of the temple is expected to catapult Ayodhya to one of the focal nodes of the Hindu faith and draw hundreds of thousands of devotees every year. In anticipation of the influx of pilgrims to easily the largest temple to Ram in India, the authorities have spruced up the centuries-old town, pouring in ₹30,508 crore to implement a sweeping facelift.
It marks an extraordinary triumph for Hindu groups, which have long argued that the site is the birthplace of Lord Ram and see the opening of the temple as a civilisational moment. It is also an important victory for the BJP, which has included the construction of the Ram Temple as one of its core promises in its election manifesto for three decades.
