Ram temple consecration: Family members of BR Ambedkar, Jagjivan Ram, Kanshi Ram among invitees

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the January 22 consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, which has also extended invitations to the families of "karsevaks" who perished during the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation.

New Delhi: Family members of Dalit icons B R Ambedkar, Jagjivan Ram, Kanshi Ram and other "prominent people" belonging to the scheduled castes are among those invited for the January 22 consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, according to sources. They said family members of "karsevaks", who died during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, have also been invited for the event, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Farmers, labourers and thousands of seers from across the country are also expected to attend the ceremony, the sources said. "Except for Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of host state Uttar Pradesh, no other chief minister has been invited for the "Pran Pratishtha" (consecration ceremony)," a source told PTI.

The source also added that "political leaders have not been invited for them being a minister in a state or the Centre". Three retired chief justices of the Supreme Court, retired chiefs of all three services-- army, navy and air force, former ambassadors, top bureaucrats, IPS officers holding "key positions" and "brothers and sisters honoured with the Nobel prize" are on the list invitees, the source said.

"Presidents of major political parties, and Ayodhya-based representatives of all parties have been invited," the source said. "Prominent people" from the tribal community and nomadic castes as well as industrialists and entrepreneurs have been invited for the ceremony, the sources said.

"Representatives of some volunteer organisations and recipients of Bharat Ratna, Param Vir Chakra, Padma Award etc. as well as prominent educationists, intellectuals, poets, artists, litterateurs, farmers, labourers and sportspersons have been invited for the consecration ceremony in Ayodhya," the source said.

"Storytellers, trustees of monasteries and temples, pujaris from more than 150 traditions, prominent people from the 'sant samaj' from Nepal as well as representatives of the Jain, Buddhist and Sikh communities have been invited, besides major donors," the source added. The sources said that 55 people belonging to the Hindu society living in 50 different countries are among the invitees. The Ram temple trust has made arrangements for food, stay and local transportation for all those invited for the January 22 ceremony.