As sections of the Indian press adopted a celebratory tone in the run-up to the pran pratishtha ceremony, ad rates surged, pages on Ayodhya turned daily, and there were special media campaigns for the Ram Mandir inauguration led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
With this festive mood in the background, the Babri Masjid and its demolition was almost conspicuous by absence – in sharp contrast to how the mainstream media had covered the razing down of the monument in 1992. But not for the international media, whose reports in the wake of the inauguration prominently featured references to the mosque, in headlines as well as in the copies. As much as they did the politics of Hindutva surrounding the movement for the temple, as well as the role played by PM Modi and the BJP.
