Ram Temple Groundbreaking Ceremony Likely In August First Week , PM Invited

The Ram Mandir Trust, set up on the Supreme Court's directions to facilitate the construction of a temple for Lord Ram in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya, has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the temple in Ayodhya either on August 3 or 5, both auspicious dates, a spokesperson said on Saturday.

Saturday's was the trust's first formal meeting in Ayodhya and the  members deliberated upon a possible date for beginning of temple construction, already delayed because of the coronaviruss pandemic.
PM Modi had announced the formation of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust on February 5.

"We have suggested two auspicious dates -- August 3 and 5 -- for the prime minister's visit based on calculations of movements of stars and planets," Mahant Kamal Nayan Das, the spokesperson of Trust's president Nritya Gopal Das, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

In November 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the then disputed land in Ayodhya would be given to a government-run trust for the building of a temple for Lord Ram and Muslims will be given a five-acre "suitable" plot elsewhere in the district.

The landmark verdict in the case -- which had a religious and political flashpoint over the country for decades -- was passed by the five-judge constitution bench unanimously amid appeals for peace by political and religious leaders and heightened security across the country.

(With inputs from PTI)