Advani and Joshi requested not to attend consecration of Ram temple

Senior BJP leaders Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, who were at the forefront of the movement for Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, have been requested not to attend the ‘pran pratishth’' ceremony on January 22.

Champat Rai, general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, the organization which is building the Ram temple in Ayodhya, told reporters in Ayodhya that former Deputy Prime Minister Advani and former Human Resource Development Minister Joshi will not be able to attend the ceremony due to health and age related reasons.

Giving detailed description of the people invited to this program, Champat Rai said, 'Both (Advani and Joshi) are elders in the family. Considering their age, they have been requested not to come, which both have accepted. Advani is now 96 years old and Joshi will turn 90 next month.

Rai, general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, said, “All preparations for the consecration ceremony will be completed by January 15. The puja for Pran Pratishtha will start on January 16, which will continue till January 22. PM Narendra Modi will attend the ceremony on January 22.

“150 sages and saints from different traditions and 13 Akharas including Shankaracharyas from six darshan traditions will participate in this function. About 4 thousand saints have been invited to the program. Apart from this, invitations have also been sent to 2200 other guests’’, he added.

Rai said that heads of major temples like Kashi Vishwanath, Vaishnodevi, representatives of religious and constitutional institutions have also been invited. He told that spiritual guru Dalai Lama, Mata Amritanandamayi of Kerala, yoga guru Baba Ramdev, actors Rajnikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, Arun Govil, film director Madhur Bhandarkar and leading industrialists Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, famous painter Vasudev Kamat, ISRO's Director Nilesh Desai and many other well-known personalities will also be present at the consecration ceremony.

After the consecration ceremony, Mandal Puja will be held for 48 days from January 24 as per the tradition of North India. At the same time, from January 23, common people will be able to have darshan of Ramlala.

Rai said that proper arrangements have been made for the guests to stay at more than three places in Ayodhya. He said that apart from this, 600 rooms have been made available by various monasteries, temples and household families and Bhandara will also start at three major places from December 25.