#OutlookMagazine | Many On Edge Ahead of Ram Temple Pran Pratistha Ceremony
With the day of the “Pran Pratishtha” looming closer, the nearly five lakh-strong Muslim population of Ayodhya is on tenterhooks.
Outlook's Rakhi Bose visited the city ahead of the ceremony to look beyond the glitz and gauge the mood of locals.
Outlook's Rakhi Bose visited the city ahead of the ceremony to look beyond the glitz and gauge the mood of locals.
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00:00 We are in Ayodhya, the city of temples, aesthetics and multiculturalism.
00:09 With days ahead of the inauguration of the Ram Mandir, the city is currently in makeover
00:15 mode.
00:16 New things are being built at a breakneck speed, including a newly opened airport, broader
00:21 roads, new shops and brand new hotels.
00:25 However, behind the facade of this glittering new city lies an older, sleepier Ayodhya,
00:32 with its many bylanes and its many temples within the houses of those bylanes.
00:38 In these bylanes live people who are not entirely happy with the kind of developments that they
00:42 are seeing in their old town.
00:44 They remain divided about the politicization of religion, they remain angry about the loss
00:49 of homes and livelihoods for the safe development of the city, and many remain scared because
00:56 they remember what happened 32 years ago on 6th December 1992 when large mobs descended
01:03 upon this town and brought down an ancient medieval religious structure.
01:09 While the government has assured the people that all the security protocols have been
01:12 taken and strict crowd control measures have been implemented, many remain nervous about
01:18 what is yet to come.
01:19 This is Rakhi Bhaut reporting from Ayodhya for Outlook.
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