Eight milestones in the journey to Ram Mandir

1858: Puja on premises

An FIR was filed on November 30 by Mohd Salim against a group of Nihang Sikhs who had conducted rituals inside the Babri Masjid. The dispute and riots led to the British building a seven-foot high wall to separate the places of worships for Hindus and Muslims.

1885: Case for temple

Raghubar Das, who identified himself as Mahantatthe chabutra in the outer courtyard, filed a suit in the Faizabad civil court against the Secretary of State for India in Council seeking permission to build a make shift temple there. The suit was dismissed.

1989: Shilanyas by VHP

The VHP pushed the cause of the Ram Temple, sensing that PM Rajiv Gandhi was under pressure due to the Bofors scandal and other issues. The VHP announced a foundation laying ceremony, but the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court ordered status quo be maintained.

 1990: Advani Yatra

In 1989, the BJP in its national executive in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, decided to participate in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and formally adopted Hinduta as its ideology. Then in September 1990, Lal Krishna Advani decided to launch a yatra to educate people about the movement. Advani's Toyota-turned- Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya via central India mobilised Hindu sentiments and led to the events of December 1992.

1992: The demolition

Kar sevaks climbed the domes of the Babri Masjid and pulled them down. This sparked communal violence that left almost 2,000 dead across the country, It set the BJP on a wider path to becoming the country’s most prominent political party, replacing the Congress.

2002: Godhra train torching

An attack on a train carrying kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya on February 27 left 59 dead in Godhra, Gujarat. Starting from the following day, Gujarat was engulfed in one of the worst riots of Independent India, in which more than 1,000 people died, mostly Muslims.

2019: The judgment

On November 9, a five-judge Supreme Court Bench led by then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi ruled the entire disputed land should be handed over to a trust formed by the government, which would monitor construction of a Ram Temple. The 2019 judgment laid the foundation for the Bhoomi Pujan function on Wednesday.