The Supreme Court delivered a verdict in the landmark Ayodhya case today
Mere moments after the Supreme Court announced its historic verdict in the decades-old Ayodhya land dispute case this morning, hashtags like #AyodhyaVerdict and #RamMandir began trending on Twitter, both in India and across the world. At around 2.30 pm, the verdict and hashtags associated with it had taken over the social media platform - five of the top 10 trending topics in the world and all 10 topics in India were related to the judgement.
#AyodhyaVerdict was the top trend in India and the world with more than 550,000 tweets.
In India #BabriMasjid, #AyodhyaJudgement and #RamJanmabhoomi were among the top trends. #RamMandir, the second-highest on that list, had more than 160,000 tweets, while the Supreme Court was also trending with more than 200,000 tweets mentioning it.
#RanjanGogoi was also trending because the CJI, who led the five-member Constitution bench in delivering the verdict is to demit office on November 17.
#HinduMuslimBhaiBhai was also trending - with more than 33,000 tweets.
In global trends four of the top five were related to the Ayodhya verdict.
In its verdict the Supreme Court decreed the disputed land is to be given to a government-run trust for the building of a temple. The Muslim petitioners, the court ruled, would be given a five-acre "suitable" plot in the town to build a mosque.
The verdict was delivered amid appeals for peace by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chief Ministers of at least seven states, and came as security was heightened across India, including internet restrictions at some places
The dispute over 2.77 acres of land in Ayodhya, claimed by both Hindus and Muslims, has dominated political discourse since the 1980s. In 1992, right wing activists tore down the 16th century Babri mosque that they believed was built on the ruins of an ancient temple that marked the birthplace of the Lord Ram. In the riots that followed, more than 2,000 people were killed across the country.