Lord Ram idol to be installed in Ayodhya Ram Mandir on Jan 22: Mohan Bhagwat

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday in a big announcement said that the idol of Lord Ram will be installed at the temple in Ayodhya on January 22. Bhagwant’s announcement came months after Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Tripura announced that Ram Temple in Ayodhya will be ready on January 1, 2024. 

Addressing a gathering at RSS Vijayadashmi Utsav, the RSS chief said, "A temple of Lord Ram is being built in Ayodhya. Lord Ram (idol) will be installed at the temple on January 22. On that day, we can organise programmes at our own temples in the whole country."

Ram temple construction work on track

Notably, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday (October 21) visited the Ram Janmabhoomi complex in Ayodhya and reviewed the progress of ongoing construction work. Stating that the construction work of Ram temple is on track and it will meet its scheduled inauguration deadline in January next year.

"We are trying to finish most of the projects before Deepotsav. A moment full of pride will come for the state and country when, in January 2024, the Prime Minister will establish Lord Ram in a grand temple," the Uttar Pradesh Chief minister was quoted as saying. 

Amit Shah's big announcement

Addressing a rally in Tripura in January 2023, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the Ram Temple in Ayodhya will be ready on January 1, 2024. “In 2019, Rahul Gandhi used to taunt us saying that while we keep promising construction of the Ram Temple, but will never give a fixed date for it. I would like to tell him that the Ram Temple at Ayodhya will be ready on January 1, 2024,” he added.

The construction of the Ram Temple began after a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court in November 2019, in an unanimous verdict, gave all 2.77 acres of disputed land for a temple. The court asked the central government to provide five acres in a "suitable, prominent place in Ayodhya", for a mosque.