At a time when the Corona virus pandemic is raging and lockdown and Unlock 2.0 restrictions prohibit religious and other large gathering, the political leverage that the televised event could yield cannot be underrated

Sompura, whose family is credited with the design of several prominent temples across the country, is now touching 80, but still quite enthused about giving a final shape to the shrine.

According to Rai, “Since a bulk of the stones required for the temple were sculpted and ready, the construction of the temple could be completed between 36 and 42 months.” Significantly, that would mean by the middle or end of 2023 – just about six months before the next general elections in 2024. What kind of bearing the completion of the new Ram temple will have on electoral outcomes can be anybody’s guess.

Sompura, the Ahmedabad-based architect, says the temple is estimated to cost Rs50 crore to Rs60 crore. It will be built with pink sandstone, to be mined and brought from Bansi Paharpur, Rajasthan. The same stone was used to build the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, also a work of Sompura. In fact, he has built over 100 temples, including Swaminarayan temple in Neasden – said to be the largest temple in the world.

Last November, the Supreme Court had decided the title of the disputed site on the basis of evidence, clearing the way for the construction of a temple. The Supreme Court order on the Ram Janmabhoomi running into over 1,000 pages, said that dispute essentially boils down to the claim over land and is not a matter of faith.

The 5-judge constitutional bench led by ex-Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi ruled that there was no evidence offered by Muslims to the disputed inner structure prior to 1857 since the date of the construction, of the now razed Babri Masjid, in the sixteenth century.

“As regards the inner courtyard, there is evidence on a preponderance of probabilities to establish worship by the Hindus prior to the annexation of Oudh by the British in 1857. The Muslims have offered no evidence to indicate that they were in exclusive possession of the inner structure prior to 1857 since the date of the construction in the sixteenth century,” the order read.