Ram Mandir Inauguration: Muslim Sculptors, Nihang Langar

The Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is to be inaugurated on 24 Jan 2024. On 19 Dec, the organizing trust issued a statement saying rituals will begin from 16 Jan and the main consecration will be on 22 Jan. Ironically, the main fiber statues at the temple are being made by Muslim artisans. The sculptors are Jamaluddin and his son Bittu from North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. Ganesh Bhatt, Arun Yogiraj, and Satyanarayan Pandey are making the child Ram’s idols. The trust said, out of the three, the idol that brings to life the tenderness of a five-year-old child will be chosen. On 17 Dec, addressing the media,  Nihang Harjit Singh Rasulpur, claiming to be the eighth descendent of the original Nihang to have entered the mosque and the supposed temple, said he wants to conduct a langar (free meals) at the temple starting with the inauguration ceremonies. In November 1858, 25 Nihang Sikhs, under the leadership of Nihang Baba Fakir Singh Khalsa, entered the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and performed a havan (ritual fire ceremony). Rasulpur believes Sikhs are part of Sanatani Hindus. This view is diametrically opposite to SGPC and most Sikhs assert Sikhs and Hindus are different religions. This is one more move by right-wing Hindus to appropriate the Sikhs. Interestingly, the original leaders of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement who destroyed the Babri Masjid, former cabinet ministers LK Advani and MM Joshi, have been requested ‘not to come’ for the consecration. The Hindu Mahasabha has refused to attend the inauguration ceremony of the shrine, claiming that it will be a ‘BJP-sponsored political programme.’