New Delhi: Ever since the date for foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Ayodhya Ram Temple has been finalised, speculations are rife in the political arena about the names of the chief guests in the event's invitee list.
When Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was asked about the same, he said," I have not been invited to the ceremony yet."
The AAP leader further said that Lord Rama should bless all the citizens and the people of Delhi to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
"May Lord Ram give strength to the people of the country to fight the pandemic. Will pray to Lord Rama to save us from this pandemic,” CM Kejriwal said on Thursday.
The construction of the grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya will start after Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on August 5 lay the foundation stone in a grand ground-breaking ceremony which will also be attended by a host of other VIPs.
On Wednesday, the chief architect of the temple Nikhil Sompura said that the height of Ayodhya's grand Ram temple would be 161-feet, an increase by 20-feet from the previous design which was prepared in 1988.
Earlier, Kameshwar Chaupal, a member of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra, a trust set up by the Centre to oversee the construction of the temple, said they will invite former deputy PM L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and Vinay Katiyar. Currently, the BJP leaders are facing a trial in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
According to the trust sources, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Maharashtra CM Udhav Thackeray and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar are also on the list of invitees.
After a protracted legal tussle, the Supreme Court had on November 9 last year paved the way for the construction of a Ram Temple by a Trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya and directed the Centre to allot an alternative 5-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a "prominent" place in the holy town in Uttar Pradesh.
Also read: PM Modi to lay foundation stone of Ram temple on Aug 5
