Amid last-minute preparations for the consecration ceremony at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, chairman of the temple construction committee Nripendra Misra has responded to the criticism by Hindu religious leaders Shankaracharyas and their decision to stay away from the event.

Shankaracharyas are pontiffs of four mutts in four corners of the country — Uttarakhand in the north, Odisha in the east, Karnataka in the south and Gujarat in the west. They are considered the tallest leaders of Hindu faith.

While two of them have spoken out against the way the consecration ceremony is being organised and have said they won’t attend it, the other two have been silent. Explaining why they won’t be attending the event, leaders of the mutts in Odisha’s Puri and Uttarakhand’s Joshimath have flagged several points. They have said the pran pratistha should not be held before the temple construction is complete. They have also questioned why the Prime Minister will be inside the sanctum sanctorum when the Shankaracharyas have been allotted seats outside it. The event, they have alleged, is being given a political angle.

Responding to the controversy in an exclusive chat with NDTV, Mr Misra said, “Shankaracharyas are dharm gurus. I am no one. They are responsible for the observants of Sanatan Dharma. Having said so, I want to give a message to the nation”.

“What we had announced was that Ram Lalla, the child Ram, will be in bhootal (the temple’s ground floor). The bhootal will have the garba griha (sanctum sanctorum), five mandaps, (religious) iconography. That has been completed,” Mr Misra explained.

What remains incomplete is the first floor, he said. “The first floor is Ram Darbar. It’s where Raja Ram comes, where he sits with Sita. On the first floor, you will have Ram, Sita, Laxman and Hanuman,” he said.

A retired IAS officer, Mr Misra served as principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2019. Following his retirement and in the aftermath of the Supreme Court judgment that cleared the path for the temple’s construction, Mr Misra was appointed chairman of the construction committee in 2020.

Speaking to NDTV, Mr Misra also listed the itinerary for tomorrow and explained step-by-step how a devotee would proceed towards ‘darshan’ of Lord Ram after she enters the temple.

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Invitees to the pran pratishtha ceremony started arriving today. Once a quiet town, it is now resplendent with new infrastructure and religious fervour, a day before the seminal event in India’s political and religious history.
Multicoloured flowers bedecked the town, and recordings of ‘Ram dhun’ played from loudspeakers and people dressed as Lord Ram, Sita, Lakshman, and Hanuman paraded down the streets.
Ceremonial gates depicting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in floral patterns and illumination visible at night add to the aura of the ancient city, which has undergone a massive infrastructural growth. “The entire country is chanting the name of Lord Ram,” said Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.
The streets and skyline of Ayodhya are covered with saffron flags fluttering from rooftops of buildings, small and big. Cut-outs of the Ram temple along with Lord Ram have been put up at Lata Mangeshkar Chowk.
The main ceremony will begin at 12.20 pm and is expected to end by 1 pm. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will then address a gathering of more than 7,000 people, including seers and prominent personalities, at the venue. The entire event will be telecast live.
Surveillance drones have been scanning the ground for suspicious activity. Ayodhya’s ‘yellow zone’ has 10,715 AI-based cameras with face-recognition technology.
To bolster emergency response capabilities, teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed. SDRF teams will conduct boat patrols on the Saryu river.
An anti-drone system has been deployed by the UP Special Security Force (SSF), adding an extra layer of security against potential aerial threats. “Ayodhya is under the watchful eye of drones equipped with AI, alongside anti-mine drones, as part of the concerted efforts to enhance security in the temple town,” a senior police officer said.
The anti-mine drones fly at a height of one metre above the ground, and are equipped with advanced technology like spectrometer wavelength detection for detecting underground explosives.
The new idol of Ram Lalla, sculpted by Arun Yogiraj, was placed inside the temple today. The idol shows the Ram Lalla as a five-year-old standing on a lotus, also crafted from the same stone.

With inputs from agencies