Bengaluru, Aug 5 (IANS): Hundreds of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and cadres across Karnataka celebrated the bhumi pujan ceremony for the new Ram temple at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh by offering prayers, lighting lamps and distributing sweets, a party official said on Wednesday.

"Our leaders and cadres in cities and towns across the state watched Prime Minister Narendra Modi laying the foundation stone for the construction of the grand temple of Lord Ram at Ayodhya on this auspicious day," the party official told IANS here.

Party's Mysuru district unit President T.S. Srivatsa and cadres offered prayers at their respective houses due to Covid-induced restrictions on gatherings at public places and need to maintain social distancing.

"Prayers were offered at around 10,000 homes and in temples across the city. All of us watched Modi live on television while performing the bhumi pujan at the Ram janmabhoomi and also listened to his inspiring speech in Hindi," Srivatsa said.

State Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar said sacred soil and holy water from rivers like Cauvery and Krishna from the state were sent to Ayodhya for the temple construction "as Lord Ram belongs to all".

"It is our good fortune to witness the Prime Minister laying the foundation stone of the temple as Lord Ram is supreme," said Sudhakar.

Special prayers were also offered for the welfare of all the people across the country.

State Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan offered prayers at a Ram temple in the city's northwest suburb with others, maintaining safe distance.

"We are blessed to have witnessed the historic moment when the temple foundation stone was laid by Modi," Narayan said.

State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa said the religious ceremony at Ayodhya was the first step towards "ending slavery and restoring the Hindu culture in the birthplace of Lord Ram".

"As mosques were built after demolishing temples at Kashi and Mathura like at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh; time has come to re-build Hindu temples at both the places and restore the Hindu culture," Eshwarappa told reporters at Shivamogga in the state's Malnad region.

A 5-Judge bench of the apex court on November 9, 2019 ordered the disputed land be handed over to a trust to build the Ram temple at Ayodhya although it held that the Babri Majid demolition at the site on December 6, 1992 was in violation of law.

To ensure peace and maintain law and order during the ceremony at Ayodhya, state Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai has instructed the police to tighten security and step up vigil across the southern state.