On the day the construction for Ram Mandir at the Ram Jamnabhoomi in Ayodhya started with the Bhoomi Pujan conducted on the presence of prime minister Narendra Modi, imagery depicting the upcoming Mandir were displayed at the Times Square in New York, USA. Video posted by ANI shows a large curved digital billboard with the images of Lord Ram and the Ram Mandir on it, located at the iconic Times Square. The Indian tricolor can also be seen in the billboard.
Hindus in the USA have rented several billboards in the are to display text and images related to the Ram Mandir on the historic occasion. American India Public Affairs Committee had made arrangements to celebrate the historical moment of Ram Mandir Bhoomi Pujan in New York on 5th August, and they had leased prominent billboards for the occasion including the 17,000-square-foot wrap-around LED display screen and the giant Nasdaq screen at the Times Square. These are highest-resolution exterior LED screens at Times Square in New York.
Muslim groups in the USA and left-liberal activists in both India and USA had tried hard to stop the display of Ram Mandir’s imagery on the digital billboards at Times Square. They had launched a campaign against it after it was known that Hindu groups had hired billboards for 5th August. They had also contacted the advertising agencies that own the billboards to stop the display, but apart from one agency, others didn’t agree with them.
Several Muslim groups including Indian Minorities Advocacy Network- ImanNet, Justice for All, Coalition of Americans for Pluralism in India CAPI, North American Indian Muslim Association NAIMA, Islamic Circle of North America -Social Justice ICNASJ and The International Society for Peace and Justice filed the petition and asked the ad companies that manage the billboards not to project the images on the LED billboards managed by them. Accordingly, ‘Branded Cities’, the firm that manages the NASDAQ digital billboard had said that they have decided not to give the said billboard for the 5th August event to the Hindu groups.
