Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown to curb the menace of Coronavirus epidemic and enforce social distancing on Tuesday, and it is being implemented past midnight , Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seem To not lead from the front, as he took part in the shifting of the Ram Lalla idol in Ayodhya to a temporary new location on early Wednesday morning, clearing the site to allow construction of a Ram temple.

CM Yogi Adityanath offered special prayers in the presence of a few senior leaders of RSS and VHP and Ram Mandir Trust Secretary Champat Rai after the idol of Ram Lalla was placed on a 9.5-kg silver throne in the new structure. Here idol would remain till the construction of the Ram temple is completed on the site, allotted for it by the Supreme Court in a landmark verdict in November.

CM Adityanath reached Ayodhya on Tuesday night. He took to Twitter and said, “Ayodhya is inviting…Grand Ram Temple’s construction works’ first phase is done as Sri Ram shifted from Tripal to a new throne. It has been shifted in a temporaty structure near Manas Bhawan. I have donated Rs 11 lakh cheque for the construction of Ram Temple.”

अयोध्या करती है आह्वान…

भव्य राम मंदिर के निर्माण का पहला चरण आज सम्पन्न हुआ, मर्यादा पुरुषोत्तम प्रभु श्री राम त्रिपाल से नए आसन पर विराजमान…

मानस भवन के पास एक अस्थायी ढांचे में ‘रामलला’ की मूर्ति को स्थानांतरित किया।

भव्य मंदिर के निर्माण हेतु ₹11 लाख का चेक भेंट किया। pic.twitter.com/PWiAX8BQRR

— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) March 25, 2020

To decide on the  decide on the actual date of construction  a meeting was to be held in Ayodhya in the first week of April, but due to the lockdown for 21 days now it is not clear whether it will happen now.

Although there were reports of postponing the ceremony due to the current Coronavirus situation in the country but Yogi Adityanath  did not defer it.

According to NDTV, at least 20 people attended the ritual.  Adityanath was later seen asking people to “follow lockdown boundaries”.

News agency PTI reported that the local administration did not allow people to gather on the occasion due to the lockdown imposed in the state.

The Home Ministry too had in its list of instructs during  lockdown had said that “All places of worship shall be closed for public. No religious congregations will be permitted, without any exception.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his second address in a week on coronavirus crisis to the nation on Tuesday announced a 21 days strict complete lockdown in the entire nation, starting from midnight.

PM Modi further said it is in a way a curfew and would be more stringent that Janata Curfew.

“Forget about leaving home in the next 21 days. If you cross the Lakshman Rekha, you will invite the virus home,” PM warned citizens.

Showing a banner in which a message was encrypted in Hindi defining Corona as ‘Koi Road pe Na Nikale’ (No one should come out on streets), he said we really need to follow this message with full enthusiasm.

“If we are not able to manage the upcoming 21 days, we will be pushed back 21 years,” PM Modi added.