The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya was held today with Prime Minister Narendra Modi presiding and performing the Bhoomi Poojan amidst the chant of Vedas.
Celebration across the country took place commemorating the return of Lord Ram from forced exile.
Hindus outside India too celebrated the event. Earlier it was reported that the Indian American community in New York had planned to celebrate this historical moment in Times Square by displaying images of Lord Ram and the model Temple in the billboards.
Jagdish Sewhani, a prominent Indian American community leader and the President of America India Public Affairs Committee in New York had said that these arrangements were made to celebrate the event in New York on 5th August. He added that a large gathering of Indian American community members has been scheduled on that day to celebrate the event and to distribute sweets to each other.
Mr Sewhani had told PTI that among the prominent billboards that are being leased for the occasion are the giant Nasdaq screen and the 17,000-square-foot wrap-around LED display screen, considered among the largest continuous exterior displays in the world and the highest-resolution exterior LED screen in Times Square.
However, some Muslim outfits like Indian Minorities Advocacy Network- ImanNet, Justice for All, Coalition of Americans for Pluralism in India CAPI, North American Indian Muslim Association NAIMA, Islamic Circle of North America -Social Justice ICNASJ and a few other organizations like Global India Progressive Alliance, Hindus for Human Rights and The International Society for Peace and Justice filed the petition had protested against the ad companies that manage the billboards from running the images of Lord Ram or the Ram Mandir.
It was even reported that the said Branded Cities Network, the company that manages the ad campaigns on bill boards had refused to put up the images of Lord Ram.
However, to everybody’s surprise, Lord Ram beamed across the Times Square.
USA: #RamMandir digital billboard comes up in New York’s Times Square. pic.twitter.com/MqklVfD2fr
— ANI (@ANI) August 5, 2020
#WATCH USA: A digital billboard of #RamMandir comes up in New York’s Times Square.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed 'Bhoomi Pujan' of #RamMandir in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh earlier today. pic.twitter.com/Gq4Gi2kfvR
— ANI (@ANI) August 5, 2020
It shows how successful Indians are in America that our #RamTemple & tricolour are on the most iconic screen in the world. It is a proud moment for India and Indians: Jagdish Sewhani, President of the American India Public Affairs Committee https://t.co/yitAmVM7yb pic.twitter.com/8miGQ067jW
— ANI (@ANI) August 5, 2020