How were photos of Lord Ram’s eyes leaked before ceremony? asks chief priest
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust is considering taking action against the culprits for leaking the photo, media reports said.
The chief priest at the Ram temple at Ayodhya reacted sharply on Saturday (January 20) after the first image of the new Ram idol was leaked on social media, revealing the God’s eyes.
“The idol that has been revealed with open eyes is not correct... If such an image is appearing, an investigation should be conducted to determine who did it," Acharya Satyendra Das told the media.
Probe leak
He said the body of the idol had been covered with clothes for now.
“The idol that has been revealed with open eyes is not correct... The eyes will not open before the ‘pran pratishtha’ (consecration ceremony),” he said.
Officials at the site could not explain how the idol’s image leaked from Shri Ram Janmabhoomi sanctum sanctorum before the consecration of the Ram temple on Monday.
Viral photo
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust is considering taking action against those who took and leaked the photo, media reports said.
The trust suspects that the photo that has gone viral on social media was taken by officials engaged in construction work at the temple site.
An image of the idol carved in black stone sourced from Karnataka, with its eyes uncovered, went viral on Friday.
51-inch idol
The 51-inch idol, carved by sculptor Arun Yogiraj of Mysuru, was placed in the sanctum sanctorum on Thursday afternoon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the event when the temple will be formally opened on Monday.
1949 saga
In December 1992, when the Babri Masjid was demolished by a Hindu mob, a small idol of Shri Ram Lalla was placed under a tent at the site.
The history of the idol dates back to 1949 when some Hindus kept it inside the Babri mosque. It was later claimed that the lord appeared on its own in the mosque.
