ON TUESDAY, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and senior party leader Sonia Gandhi received invitations from a delegation on behalf of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for the Pran Pratishtha or consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22.
An invitation was also delivered to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh since he was not entertaining visitors owing to ill-health.
Sources said Nripendra Misra, Chairman, Ram Mandir Construction Committee, and ex-officio member of the Trust, RSS Akhil Bharatiya Sampark Pramukh Ram Lal and VHP international working president Alok Kumar met Gandhi and Kharge and invited them to the ceremony.
Sources in the Congress said both are unlikely to attend. It is learnt that Misra had sought an appointment with Singh but the former prime minister’s office declined appointment citing his fragile health.
The delegation also met former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and former President Ram Nath Kovind, inviting them to the grand function. Sources said an invitation to former President Pratibha Patil has also been sent. Besides, heads of all political parties too have been invited. Interestingly, Chief Ministers and Governors are not being invited.
Sources said every state would be allotted designated days to visit the temple after the consecration ceremony, and some special train provisions may be made. The CMs would also be invited to join the devotees from their states, and special arrangements would be made for their reception, they said.
Invitations are being sent to CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, his CPI counterpart D Raja, BSP chief Mayawati and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwalsources said.
Grand arrangements are being made at Ayodhya for the consecration ceremony after which Prime Minister Narendra ModiRSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would address a gathering of roughly 8,000 people.
Champat Rai, Secretary of the trust, said Monday that the guest list for the Pran Pratishtha ceremony has been “carefully crafted”. It includes industrialists, scientists, actors, army officers to Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardees among others. The guest list includes Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, yoga guru Baba Ramdev, industrialists Gautam Adani of the Adani Group, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance, actors Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Madhuri said Nene, Arun Govil, who played Ram in Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan TV series, film director Madhur Bhandarkar, lyricist Prasoon Joshi among others.
According to the tentative schedule, the consecration would precede elaborate rituals spanning several days which include bathing the deity in the Sarayu river and taking the deity in a procession to all major temples in Ayodhya for a dev darshan.
The trust has also invited a large number of workers who were part of the temple construction as also Natarajan Chandrasekaran of the Tata Group and S N Subrahmanyan of the L&T Group.
“Invitations have been sent to chiefs of all national political parties and former prime ministers of the country. Those who gave us time were given invitations personally, others have been sent the invitations through post. VHP has always maintained that whoever has the belief in Shri Ram and takes pride in the cultural heritage of the country is welcome for a darshan,” VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal told The Indian Express.
A senior VHP leader said speculation around opposition leaders not being called for the Pran Paratishtha ceremony on January 22 were false since it had always been part of the plan to call all key leaders across the political spectrum. “Of course, everybody cannot be called since there is a logistical issue with how much crowd can gather for the event. That is why party presidents are being called. But all are welcome to visit Ayodhya after the ceremony,” the leader said.
