BJP veterans LK Advani, MM Joshi invited to Ram Mandir ceremony in Ayodhya

New Delhi/AYODHYA: BJP stalwarts, former deputy prime minister LK Advani and Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi, have been invited by the Ram Mandir Organising Committee and Bajrang Dal to attend the Ramlala’s Pran Pritistha ceremony on 22ne January 2024.  It has however been reported by unconfirmed reports that the two leaders might skip the event of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The temple trust had indicated on Monday.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Champat Rai, the general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, said Advani (96) and Joshi, who will turn 90 next month, may not be able to attend the consecration of the Ram Temple on January 24, next year, on grounds of age and health (photo credit-News24).

Advani and Joshi were at the forefront of the Ram Temple movement that eventually culminated in the Supreme Court deciding the decades-old title dispute case in favour of the Hindu in a landmark ruling by a five-judge Constitution Bench on November 9, 2019.

The court ruled that the disputed land be given to a trust to build the Ram Janmabhoomi temple. The court also ordered that the Muslim side be compensated with five acres of land to build a mosque.

“Both are elders in the (Sangh) family and considering their age, they have been requested not to come (to Ayodhya for the consecration event). Both have accepted our request,” Rai told reporters here on Monday.

He said all preparations for the consecration ceremony, which is to be headlined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be completed by January 15, next year. “The puja for Pran Pratishtha will begin on January 16 and will continue till January 22, 2024,” the general secretary of the temple trust, informed.

PM Modi is set to attend the installation of the idol of Ram Lalla at the grand temple on January 22.

Preparations are underway in full swing for the event, which will draw dignitaries and people from all walks of life.  Amid the preparations, the locals in the temple city are delighted over new avenues of income from donations received from tourists coming from India and abroad in exchange for the hospitality offered to them.

Rai said a total of 13 Akharas, including 150 sages and saints from different traditions and Shankaracharyas from six philosophy traditions, will take part in the grand event. “About four thousand saints have been invited to the programme. Apart from this, invitations have also been sent to 2,200 other guests,” he said.

He informed further that heads of major temples like Kashi Vishwanath, and Vaishnodevi, and representatives of religious and constitutional institutions have also been invited.