The Ram Mandir and Babri mosque is a long-running dispute between Hindus and Muslims over 2.77 acres of land in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Hindus believe that in the 16th century, the Mughal Invader Babar demolished the Shri Ram temple and built the Babri Masjid at that place. To resolve this dispute, a legal route was taken and the case was fought in the court for many years. The court ordered an archaeological survey of the site, where the ruins of the temple were found beneath the mosque. Per the archaeological evidence found, the court issued a final ruling in November 2019 and directed the government to establish a trust and hand over the land to them.
Following this, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust was formed and the construction of the temple started in full swing. The construction of the temple will be done in three phases, but devotees will be able to enter the temple only after the completion of the first phase. Moreover, 22 January is the day chosen for the Pran Pratishtha ceremony marking the completion of the first phase of the temple. The idol of Shri Ram will be kept inside the temple. With many other well-known people, Prime Minister Narendra will participate in the Pran Pratishtha. The four Shankaracharyas, however, have declined to take part in the ceremony expressing displeasure regarding the consecration of life in the half-built temple. Many opposition leaders have also declined the invitation and are targeting BJP over the same issue.
Amidst all this, a screenshot of Google Map is going viral on social media, in which it is being claimed that a temple is not being built where there was a mosque. But its construction is being done three kilometres away from the site. A user Mahesh Singh (archived link) on X (formerly Twitter) sharing the screenshot of a Google map wrote, ‘Check out this Google map showing the two distinct sites of where the Babri Masjid once stood and where the Ram Temple has been constructed. Ruins of babri Mosque still there. Ram Mandir being built 3 KM away from demolished Mosque.’
Check out this Google map showing the two distinct sites of where the Babri Masjid once stood and where the Ram Temple has been constructed. Ruins of babri Mosque still there. Ram Mandir being built 3 KM away from demolished Mosque. pic.twitter.com/5HRWDiaPCU
— mahesh singh (@maheshs97394123) January 14, 2024
Another user Md Obaidullah (archived link) wrote, “Ram temple is not being constructed at the place of Ramjanmbhoomi for which the entire controversy was raised. The construction of the temple is taking place at a distance of 500 meters from that place. When the temple was to be constructed at a distance of 500 meters, then why was so much controversy created??? Think, consider, concentrate on your mind.”
जिस रामजन्म भूमि के लिए सारा विवाद खड़ा किया गया, उस जगह पर राम मंदिर का निर्माण नहीं हो रहा है।
— Md Obaidullah (@INCObaid) January 11, 2024
मंदिर निर्माण उस स्थान से 500 मीटर की दुरी पर हो रहा।
जब 500 मीटर की दुरी पर ही मंदिर का निर्माण होना था तो इतना विवाद क्यों खड़ा किया गया???
सोचें, विचार करें, दिमाग़ पर जोर दें। pic.twitter.com/1zil520wD1
The propaganda account GemsOfNaMo (archived link) wrote, “Ulema and @RSSorg @VHPDigital did a wonderful job. Middle dome of Babri Masjid, Which we vacated for the sanctum sanctorum of Ramlala, that our God was born there and the ancient temple was there, now is a temple being built far away from there, and the country is being kept in darkness???”
गजब खेला कर दिया Ulema और @RSSorg @VHPDigital ने।
— Gems Of Narendra तुष्टिकरणदास Modi (@GemsOfNaMo) January 14, 2024
बाबरी मस्जिद का बीच का गुंबद,
जिसे हमने रामलला के गर्भगृह के लिए खाली करवाया, कि हमारे देव वहीं जन्में और पुरातन मंदिर वहीं थी, अब क्या वहां से दूर मंदिर बन रहा है, और देश को अंधेरे में रखा जा रहा है ???
तो क्या साहब ने मंदिर अब… pic.twitter.com/pN18ihVQqr
Molitics journalist Shivam Kumar (archived link), while sharing Sanjay Raut’s video, who also claimed that the temple is being built 3 kilometres away from the site, wrote, “BJP should answer this question of Sanjay Raut.”
"मंदिर वही बनाएंगे" "मंदिर वही बनाएंगे" बोल बोल कर बाबरी मस्ज़िद गिराई। बाबरी मस्जिद के बड़े गुंबज के नीच ही भगवान श्री राम लला का जन्म हुआ था इस लिए वही मंदिर बनाने के हेतु से मस्जिद गिराई गई। फिर मंदिर वहा से 3 किलोमीटर दूर क्यों बनाया जा रहा है? अगर 3 किलोमीटर दूर ही मंदिर… pic.twitter.com/FGD8vQV47f
— Shivam Kumar (@SpeaksShivam) January 15, 2024
Fact Check
In the viral screenshots, two places are marked with the Babar Mosque being marked in red colour and the location marked in yellow colour shows Shri Ram temple is being built there. Apart from this, when we searched ‘Babar Masjid’ on Google Map, no result was found. However, Sita Ram Birla Temple was found at that location and when we compared the viral screenshot with Birla Temple, the visuals were similar.
It is important to note that the place marked in the viral screenshot is Babar mosque and not Babri mosque. However, on the Google map, Sita Ram Birla temple was found on the same spot where Babar mosque was marked in the viral screenshot. This could be probably due to the wrong marking. Upon comparing the viral screenshot with Google Maps, it was confirmed that the Birla Temple is situated at the same distance from the construction site of the Shri Ram temple as shown in the viral screenshot.
Additionally, we searched “Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir Ayodhya” on the Google Earth Pro application and found images from 2022 showing the construction of the temple and 2011 images when the construction had not taken place.
Now after this, it is important to prove that Shri Ram Temple is being constructed at the same place where Babri Masjid was situated. For this, we searched on the internet and found a few pictures of Babri Masjid of the year 1992 on the website TIMES Content. Although it was a bit difficult to match these images with recent satellite images of Shri Ram Mandir, we still tried to find similarities between the 1992 image of Babri which was taken from the opposite side of the mosque and satellite images of the demolished site from 2011.
Upon comparing the structures captured in these pictures from TIMES Content with the satellite image from 2011, it was determined that this is an image of the same location where the construction of the Ram temple is currently underway. In the image below, we have marked the same structures in both images.
Conclusion: These points prove that Shri Ram Mandir is being constructed at the same place where Babri Masjid was located. The claim that it is being constructed 3 kilometres away from the actual site is misleading.
| Claim | Shri Ram temple is being constructed 3 kilometers away from the site where Babri was demolished |
| Claimed by | X users |
| Fact Check | Misleading |
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