BSP chief Mayawati on Monday, while saying she was yet undecided on whether or not to attend the programme owing to party engagements, emphatically added that her party “did not have any problems” with the January 22 ceremony and “welcomed it”, “just like it would welcome a programme for the mosque being built in place of Babri Masjid as the BSP is a secular party”.
Two days earlier, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, after putting out cryptic statements regarding whether he will attend the ceremony, wrote a letter to temple trust general secretary Champat Rai, thanking him for the invitation and assuring him that he would visit the temple after January 22 “as a devotee with his entire family”. He also extended his best wishes for the successful organisation of the programme.
Yadav’s letter, which he posted on social media platform X, appeared to take care not to upset the majority Hindu voters while also not appearing anti-Muslim by attending the inauguration being organised by the Sangh Parivar.
On Monday, senior UP Congress leaders, although not invited to the January 22 ceremony, visited Ayodhya, took a dip in the holy Saryu river and worshipped at the Ram Lalla Virjaman makeshift temple and the Hanumangarhi temple. Avinash Pande, Congress in-charge of UP, said the visit had “nothing to do with politics and the Congress (national) leadership had not made any directions regarding it”.
Ajay Rai, UP Congress Committee chief said the idol of Ram Lalla is also “pran pratishthit” (consecrated) and that they had come to worship before him on the most pious occasion of Makar Sankranti. Congress MP from Haryana Deepinder Hooda, Pramod Tiwari and others were also part of the UP Congress contingent.Meanwhile, the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra on Monday announced that the idol sculpted on Krishna Shila by renowned sculptor Arun Yogiraj has been selected as the idol for the Ram temple in Ayodhya.Three idols had been prepared by three separate sculptors to be placed inside the sanctum sanctorum. Each idol of five-year-old Lord Ram is 51-inch tall and bears a child-like expression.
The general secretary of the trust also said that the trust was considering closing the Shri Ram Lalla Virajman temple for devotees on January 20-21 to make it convenient to carry out internal arrangements. He said the consecration ceremony on January 22 will last 65-75 minutes and that the rituals for the ceremony will start on Tuesday.
