Ayodhya | Lord Hanuman is said to be the protector of Ayodhya and Rama devotees. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes to Ayodhya for ‘Bhoomipujan’ on Wednesday, Hanuman will first worship at the Garhi temple. According to Mahant Raju Das, the chief priest of Hanuman Garhi temple, “Before going for ‘Bhoomipujan’, the Prime Minister will offer prayers in Hanuman Garhi temple for about seven minutes. A special puja has been arranged for him here. ‘Bhoomipujan’ The ritual will actually begin at Hanuman Garhi from August 4. It is believed that before beginning any work, one should worship Lord Hanuman and seek the blessings of protection. ”
The nearly 166-year-old dispute will end with ‘Bhoomipujan’ on Wednesday.
The dispute over the temple began in 1853. After the construction of the mosque, the Hindus alleged that the place where the mosque was built was earlier the temple of Lord Rama, which was demolished for the construction of the mosque.
In 1885, the case reached the court for the first time when Mahant Raghubar Das filed an appeal in the Faizabad court for permission to build the Ram temple adjacent to the Babri Masjid.
The British government erected a wire fence in 1859 to allow separate prayers to Muslims and Hindus in the inner and outer premises of the disputed land.
On December 23, 1949, a statue of Lord Rama was placed at this central site. Subsequently, Hindus began to worship regularly at that place, while Muslims stopped offering namaz there.
On 16 January 1950, Gopal Singh Visharad filed an appeal in the Faizabad court, seeking special permission to worship Ram Lala.
A few months later, on 5 December 1950, Mahant Paramahamsa Ram Chandra Das also filed suit for continuing Hindu prayers and placing the idol of Lord Rama in the disputed structure.
Nine years later, on 17 December 1959, the Nirmohi Arena filed a lawsuit to transfer the disputed site, and on 18 December 1961, the Sunni Waqf Board of Uttar Pradesh also sued to seek ownership of the Babri Masjid and the idols of the mosque. Demanded to be removed from the premises.
In 1984, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) launched a campaign to open the locks of the disputed structure. A committee was also formed for this.
Faizabad District Judge K.M. Pandey allowed Hindus to worship at the disputed site on 1 February 1986.
The locks were reopened, but this angered some Muslim organizations and they formed the Babri Masjid Action Committee to protest.
In 1989, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced formal support to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), giving the temple movement a new lease of life.
This was the stage when a large-scale movement for the Ram temple started, which changed the course of national politics in the coming years.
On July 1, 1989, a fifth lawsuit was filed in the name of Lord Ramlala Virajaman.
The then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi allowed ‘Shilanyas’ (to lay the foundation stones) near the disputed structure on 9 November 1989.
As the temple movement gained momentum, in September 1990, the then BJP president, Lal Krishna Advani, began a rath yatra from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.
Advani was arrested by the Lalu Yadav government in Samastipur, Bihar.
In October 1991, the Kalyan Singh government in Uttar Pradesh acquired 2.77 acres of land near the disputed structure and leased it to the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas.
The Allahabad High Court, however, ordered that no permanent structure be erected there.
The temple movement reached its peak on 6 December 1992, when thousands of ‘kar sevaks’ who came together demolished the disputed structure, leading to communal riots across the country.
The Liberhan Commission was formed a few days later to investigate those responsible for the demolition of the mosque.
In January 2002, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee started an Ayodhya department in his office. The job of this department was to resolve the dispute between Hindus and Muslims.
In April the same year, a three-judge bench began hearing on the ownership of the disputed site in Ayodhya.
The Archaeological Survey of India began excavations in Ayodhya in 2003 under the directions of the Allahabad High Court. The ASI claimed that there was evidence of the remains of the temple under the disputed structure, but Muslims had differing opinions about it.
In September 2010, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court delivered the landmark verdict and divided the disputed land into three parts – one portion given to the Ram temple, the other to the Sunni Waqf Board and the third to the Nirmohi Akhara.
The High Court’s decision was challenged in the Supreme Court and after amicable efforts to settle the dispute, the apex court gave its verdict on November 9, 2019 that the disputed land would be given to Hindus for temple construction. And for the construction of the mosque, 5 acres of land will be given to Muslims in Ayodhya separately.
The court asked the government to set up a trust to oversee the construction of the temple.
Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirthakshetra Trust was set up in February this year to start the temple construction.
Had the corona epidemic and nationwide lockdown not occurred, the temple would have started construction on Ram Navami in April.
Meanwhile, the state government has given five acres of land to Muslims in Dhannipur in Ayodhya.
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