PM Modi To Attend Ram Temple Foundation Stone Ceremony In Ayodhya

AYODHYA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the "bhoomi pujan" ceremony to begin the construction of a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya on August 5, the temple trust said, as reported by a channel. A 40-kg silver brick at the sanctum sanctorum will be installed as the foundation stone by the PM.

Along with PM Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar will also attend the event.

The Trust said that not more than 50 VIPs will attend the event and big CCTV screens have been put up across Ayodhya so the devotees can watch the programme.

All senior BJP leaders associated with temple movement have been invited, the Trust said. The list will include BJP veterans Lal Krishna Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi and senior leaders like Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Ritambhara, as reported by the channel.

A three-day-long Vedic rituals, beginning August 3, will precede the main ceremony.

Before the "bhoomi pujan" ceremony, Vedic rituals will be performed by sages from Varanasi as was done during the shifting of the idol of Ram Lalla from the sanctum sanctorum to a temporary structure, said Mahant Kamal Nayan Das, the spokesperson of Trust president Nritya Gopal Das.

Priests in Ayodhya have prepared an elaborate plan for the three-day event.

After a protracted legal tussle, the Supreme Court had on November 9 last year in a landmark judgement 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 five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a "prominent" place in the holy town in Uttar Pradesh.