Thousands of people in Ayodhya danced in the streets, waving flags and chanting religious slogans during the consecration ceremony of the grand Ram temple on Monday. Thousands others watched the ceremony live online. But along with the frenzy, several fake and digitally altered images started circulating on social media that attracted a lot of attention. One of them shows the projection of Lord Ram on Dubai's Burj Khalifa building. The photo went massively viral, amassing more than two million views and sparking a huge debate online.
The image shows a shining Burj Khalifa with a photo of Lord Ram dressed as a sage (depicting his years in exile) with 'Jai Shri Ram' written in top.
People who shared the photo claimed this was real and users immediately started posting comments. However, some of them asked if the photo is real.
"Jai Shree Ram. Still I want to know whether it is edited or real?" commented one user. "Craze is unreal," said another.
"Well it is not photoshopped. It's digitally altered. Jai Shree Ram. Paint the whole world," said a third user.
However, a reverse image search on Google shows Burj Khalifa in same light but without any projection of Lord Ram on it.
Whenever an occasion is celebrated by the world's tallest building, the images are shared on its Facebook and Instagram accounts. But no such post has been shared on its social media handles.
A similar incident took place in April 2023 too, but that too turned out to be fake.
Meanwhile, the doors of the Ram temple in Ayodhya opened to the general public on Tuesday, a day after the consecration of the new Ram Lalla idol.
A large number of devotees, both locals and visitors from other states, gathered outside the main gates since late on Monday night, waiting to enter the premises.
They had to wait for hours in the biting cold before the doors of the grand temple opened.
The temple complex, built in the traditional Nagara style, is 380 feet long from the east to the west, 250 feet wide and will eventually rise to 161 feet at the 'shikhar'. It is supported by 392 pillars and has 44 doors.
