COURTESY HT AUG  6Lamps lit across country in piety
HT Correspondent

letters@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi : People lit earthen lamps in different parts of the country to celebrate the laying of the foundation stone of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, as government functionaries, irrespective of political affiliations, termed the event as a “historic moment” for every Indian.

There was an air of accomplishment as workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and other affiliates of the latter blew conches when Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed ceremonial rituals at the sanctum sanctorum of the makeshift temple and placed a silver brick as the foundation for the new one.

BJP offices in various states were decorated and large screens were installed outside the offices to show the telecast of the ceremony — carried live by almost every news channel in the country. Party workers raised Jai Shri Ram and Jai Siya Ram slogans and after the ceremony, ladoos were distributed among people in several states.

Ram temples across India were done up for the occasion too, with even the streets leading to some in the country’s Hindi heartland decorated; special prayers were held in most.

In Raj Bhavans in states such as Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, earthen lamps were lit and special prayers were held