VHP invites Advani, Joshi for Ram Temple consecration

VHP Tuesday invited veteran BJP leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi for the grand consecration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya next month day after Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust’s general secretary Champat Rai had said that he had requested the two senior leaders not to attend the ceremony owing to their old age.

New Delhi:Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Tuesday invited former deputy prime minister LK Advani and Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi for the grand consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya next month.

The two were invited a day after Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust’s general secretary and senior VHP leader, Champat Rai, had said that he had requested Advani and Joshi not to attend the ceremony owing to their old age. VHP president Alok Kumar said that both BJP veterans said that they will try their best to attend the January 22 event.

"The pioneers of the Ram Mandir movement, Advani ji and Murli Manohar Joshi ji were invited to attend the consecration ceremony. Both of them said that they will try their best to come," the VHP president Alok Kumar said.

Advani (96) and Joshi, who will turn 90 next month, 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 side 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.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Champat Rai, the general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, said, "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." 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. Prime Minister 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.