Does Ayodhya Ram Mandir stand over disputed Babri Masjid site? ‘Evidence shows…’

The dispute regarding where the Ayodhya Ram Mandir stands is still not over!

Some opposition leaders and social media users have been sharing Google Map screenshots showing the Ram Temple about three kilometres away from the disputed site of Babri Masjid. The Opposition further slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that if the intention was not to build the temple on the controversial site, then why the Masjid was demolished?

Shiv Sena leader (Uddhav Thackeray faction) Sanjay Raut questioned: Why is the temple being built 3 kilometres away from there? Why was Hindu-Muslim communal hatred spread?

On a similar note, Congress leader Digvijay Singh said that the Majid was demolished only to make the issue communal.

“BJP, VHP and RSS wanted to demolish the mosque, not build a temple. Because until the mosque is demolished the issue does not become a Hindu-Muslim issue.”

‘Evidence show temple was built where the Masjid stood’

However, Alt News did a fact-check of the claim and said the temple was built exactly where the Babri Masjid once stood.

Alt News investigated the matter using Google Maps and Google Earth Pro for its research and this is what they revealed:

The viral screenshot clearly shows the construction of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya. However, another site, which social media users claim is the site of Babri Masjid, actually is the area where a Sita-Ram Birla Temple is located.

The media house compared the viral screenshot with Google Map images and found that the satellite image present in Google Map, when zoomed, exactly matches the structure of the Sita-Ram Birla Temple. There was no Babri Masjid at the “other location”, Alt News said.

Moreover, in the viral screenshot, it's mentioned "Babar Masjid" and not "Babri Masjid". Now, upon searching on Google Map, it was found that Sita-Ram Birla Temple was "wrongly marked". Also, a picture of Babri Masjid was uploaded in the review of this mosque.

Now, coming to the location of Ayodhya Ram Mandir. When Alt News searched the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya on Google Earth Pro, they found that in the satellite image taken in 2023, a temple-like structure had been built at this place. 

After this, they looked at the old satellite images of the same place with the help of Google Earth Pro application. They found the clearest picture of the location from 2011, in which it can be seen that the construction of the Ram temple had not started at that time. The coordinates of this location are (26°47’43.74″N 82°11’38.77″E).

Later, they found two photographs (available on the internet) taken from different angles of the Babri Masjid which show some structures that match the site where the Ram temple is presently under construction. "Since the Ram temple was not constructed in 2011 and there was no major construction, the structure there appears to be the same as the old one," the report said.

They compared the old internet images of the Babri Masjid area with the 2011 satellite data and “found that this is the picture of the same place where Ram temple is being built recently.” Thus, the current temple is being built at the same location where the historic Babri Masjid once stood, the article adds.