Devotees from Nepal wait for the arrival of UP CM Yogi Adityanath at their camp, ahead of the consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir, in Ayodhya, Friday, January 19, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
While the list of invitees to the Ram temple consecration in Ayodhya on January 22 is long enough, the list of those not attending the much hyped ceremoniously decked up event begins with the four Maha Gurus of the Sanatan Hindu Dharma— the Shankaracharyas boycotting the consecration.
From the political fronts in the country, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar in a response to the Ram Janambhoomi Kshetra Trust's general secretary Champat Rai said that he would not be able to attend the event owing to certain prior engagements that he has to address.
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav also declined the invitation on January 17.
TMC Supremo Mamata Banerjee is not attending the ceremony in Ayodhya, instead she is said to be leading a Sampriti Yatra in Kolkata on January 22.
Earlier in the day, former MP chief minister and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh sparked a controversy by saying that "the idol installed in the temple does not resemble that of the child Lord Ram". He is likely to pay a visit to the temple after the completion of the entire structure in Ayodhya.
Other politicians who have received the invite and are likely to attend the Ram temple consecration ceremony are: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar; Senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh; HD Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy, BJP veteran LK Advani; BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi; and Himachal Pradesh Minister Vikramaditya Singh.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has sent invitations to 7,000 people, including 3,000 VVIPs, including cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.
Stating that "BJP-RSS are using God like EVM", Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) president Prakash Ambedkar has declined the invite to attend the consecration ceremony of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya.
Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who received the invitation from the temple trust also respectfully declined to attend. Referring to Kharge's refusal, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi recently said, “It has become an RSS-BJP event and I think that is why the Congress president (Mallikarjun Kharge) said that he would not attend the function.”
BSP supremo Mayawati has said that she is yet to decide on whether to attend the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya on January 22.