While the first police complaint in the Ayodhya dispute dates back to 1858 and first cases were filed in 1885, the main thrust to the Ram Mandir movement came in 1989 when the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) did a 'shilanyas' -foundation stone-laying- at the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site.

The 'shilanyas' happened with the blessings of the then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, whose Home Minister Buta Singh met late VHP leader Ashok Singhal and granted him the permission to lay the foundation stone. As communal tensions rose, the Union government urged VHP to conduct it outside the dispute side but the VHP defied the government.

The Indian Express wrote in an article, "But on November 9, a congregation of VHP leaders, including Sadhus, dug a 7x7x7 ft pit to lay the singhdwar (main entrance) of the sanctum sanctorium, clearly on the disputed land, defying the agreement they had made with the authorities."

In 1990, LK Advani began his rath yatra, which was the most significant milestone in the Ram Mandir movement.

Advani embarked on his first Toyota rath yatra, catalysing a chain of events that resulted in the demolition of the Babri Masjid two years later.

n September 1990, LK Advani began his Rath Yatra from Gujarat's Somnath to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh to make people aware about the Ram Janmabhoomi issue and to raise support for the call of a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

While it was under the banner of religion, it was also a political act. India Today noted, "It whipped up a strong Hindu fervour and increased the party's votebank from 85 in 1989 to 120 in the 1991 general elections."

The Rath Yatra also led to communal violence in Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh. Advani was arrested in October 1990 in Bihar's Samastipur at the orders of the then-Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. Advani was on his way to Ayodhya for kar seva when he was arrested. In 1992, thousands of right-wing Hindu kar sevaks climbed the Babri Masjid and demolished it.

The Allahabad High Court in its 2010 judgement divided the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site into three parts, with Sunni Waqf board, Nirmohi Akhara, and Ram Lalla each receiving a third of it.

THe HC ruled that the central dome of the demolished three-dome structure where the idol of Ram Lalla had been kept in a makeshift temple was the birthplace of Ram, The judgement was challenged in the Supreme Court, which delivered its verdict in 2019 and said the Allahabad High Court had "completely erred" in its ruling.

The Supreme Court in 2019 awarded the disputed site to Ram Lalla. The five-judge bench said the faith of Hindus that Lord Ram was born at the site was undisputed, and he is symbolically the owner of the land

While the apex court awarded the disputed side to Ram Lalla, it also ruled that the Union government would allot a five-acre plot in a "prominent" location in Ayodhya to build a mosque in place of the one demolished in 1992.

Following the 2019 Supreme Court verdict, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya in August 2020.

As per the Ram temple trust, the current estimated cost for the construction of the new temple is approximately Rs 1,800 crore. The costs are expected to go up, The Economic Times reported in September this year.

In 2021, Neeraj Shukla, vice-chairman of ADA, said the estimated construction cost of the Ram temple (covered area) was estimated to be Rs 15 crore on the basis of the public work department's (PWD) schedule. The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust had launched a nationwide fund collection campaign called "Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Ram Mandir Nidhi Samarpan Abhiyan" on January 15 2021.

"In the nationwide fund collection campaign, the Trust has received ₹2,100 crore in its bank accounts till Friday (February 26)," Trust treasurer Swami Govind Dev Giri said in a statement issued in March, 2021, in Ayodhya.

Voluntary donations from Rambhakts (devotees of Lord Ram) are made via coupons of Rs 10, Rs 100 and Rs 1,000 denominations that are provided by the Trust.

Earlier in 2020, the trust authorities had said that the temple will be built using funds collected through a domestic donation campaign since the trust was not authorised to accept donations from outside India.

In 2021, the trust said it is looking for ways to accept donations from affluent Indians and Hindus living abroad. "There is a demand from the devotees of Lord Ram residing abroad to launch a fund contribution campaign for overseas Indians also," Giri was quoted by Hindustan Times in 2021.

In June this year, The Telegraph reported that donations totalling Rs 5,500 crore have been collected so far towards the construction of the Ram temple so far. According to the Trust, of the money collected, Rs 3,400 crore was donated between January 15 and February 27 this year during a special drive,

The sum (Rs 5,500 crore) is about half the Centre's annual budget for the school midday meal scheme.