NEW DELHI : After Ram Temple Trust requested veteran BJP leaders LK Advani, and Murli Manohar Joshi not to attend the consecration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, scheduled to be held in January 2024, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Tuesday invited the former deputy prime minister Advani, and Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti. Rai  said that Advani and Joshi might not be able to attend the inauguration ceremony because of their age and health issues.
Advani is 96 years old and Joshi will be 90 next month. He  said that a team of three people has been formed to go to former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and invite him to the ceremony. He added that “Shankaracharyas of six ‘darshanas’ (ancient schools) and about 150 saints and sages will join the ceremony.”
The Ram Temple Trust on Monday (December 18) said that veteran BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, may not attend the Ram temple consecration ceremony in January due to health and age reasons. Trust general secretary Champat Rai said that both leaders, who were at the helm of the Ram temple movement in the ’80s, were requested to refrain from attending due to their advanced age  a request they accepted, NDTV reported. Advani is aged 96 and Joshi will turn 90 next month.
Meanwhile, VHP president Alok Sharma, RSS joint general secretary Krishna Gopal and communication head Ramlal, met Advani Tuesday to invite him to the Ram Mandir’s pran prathishthan (consecration) ceremony in January. The former deputy Prime Minister, who turned 96 last month, has expressed his intent to be in Ayodhya for the ceremony. VHP)  on Tuesday said it has extended invitation to BJP veterans Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to attend the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple scheduled to be held next month. “Both the seniors said they will make every effort to come,” said Alok Kumar, VHP’s International Executive President.

The development comes after a backlash following the remark of Ram Temple Trust general secretary Champat Rai stating that both the leaders were ‘requested’ not to come to the ceremony due to their old age. Rai said that the inauguration ceremony on January 22, which will see the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is being prepared for with full enthusiasm.
L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, the veteran BJP leaders who spearheaded the Ram temple movement in Ayodhya, have been ‘advised’ to skip the temple’s inauguration ceremony next month. Champat Rai, the General Secretary of the Ram Temple Trust, said to the media on Monday that “Both are respected elders of the family and keeping in mind their health and age, they were advised to stay away, which they agreed to.”In 1990, Advani had embarked on the Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya to press for his party’s demand for the temple. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then a young party leader, had not only been a prominent face of the Gujarat leg of the Yatra, but also played a key role in the signature campaign to collect signatures in favour of building the temple.
Advani assumed leadership of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in 1984 and led the infamous ‘rath yatra‘ from Somnath to Ayodhya. The purpose of the yatra was to stir up support for the demand for the construction of a Ram temple at the spot where the Babri mosque stood. The yatra wasn’t positioned as a message of peace with large scale violence, rioting and killings along the route before Advani was arrested by former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. Two years later, on December 6, 1992 the Babri Masjid was demolished by a mob of kar sevaks led by Advani.
(Bureau Report with Media Inputs).

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