Modi offered prayers to nine stone blocks with Ram inscribed on them and kept in a small pit amid chanting of Hindu religious hymns to symbolise the start of construction of the temple, which is expected to take three and a half years to complete
An Indian citizen termed the ceremony as the death of secular India.
Another shared how Hindutva, the ideology propagated by Hindu radicals, was destroying the fabric of society.
Journalist Rana Ayyub said it was a 'black day' in the history of India.
Another user said that a 'tolerant' India never existed for many.
One Vidya Krishnan said it was a day of 'mourning'.