200 people to attend
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the Ram Temple slated to be built in Ayodhya on August 5. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic and to ensure maximum social distancing at the programme, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra has decided that there will not be more than 200 people, including 150 invitees at the foundation stone laying ceremony.
“We have decided that there will not be more than 200 people including 150 invitees at the event,” Swami Govind Dev Giri, Treasurer of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra said on Wednesday in Pune.
Before laying the foundation stone for the construction of the temple, PM Modi will offer prayers to Lord Ram at the temple and Lord Hanuman at Hanuman Garhi Temple in Ayodhya. All chief ministers from different states will be invited to the programme, Swami Govind Dev Giri, Treasurer of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra said.
In Ayodhya, elaborate preparations are being planned for the three-day Vedic rituals at the Ram Janmabhoomi site. The rituals will begin on August 3 and end with a ‘bhumi pujan’ on August 5 before the construction of the much awaited temple begins.
Veteran BJP leader and former deputy prime minister LK Advani and other leaders of the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation will also be invited to the ceremony, a Ram Mandir trust member said on Tuesday.
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.
“Timings for the foundation stone laying ceremony for the Prime Minister has been decided according to the Hindu calendar and the most auspicious time (12.15 pm) on August 5, has been selected accordingly,” Mahant Kamal Nayan Das, heir to Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Chairman of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust had said on Sunday.
Vedic rituals for the ‘bhumi pujan’ will begin with a special puja offered to Lord Ganesha. According to Hindu rituals, every auspicious ceremony begins with offerings to Lord Ganesha. Next day, the priests will perform Ramacharya Puja and on the last day August 5 another ‘bhumi pujan’ will be performed, which will be attended by the Prime Minister.
An 11-member team of priests from Varanasi and Ayodhya will perform the three-day rituals. In this entire ceremony, priests from Varanasi, which is the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Modi, will have a prominent role.
On his maiden visit to Ayodhya, PM Modi is likely to remain in the temple town for two hours.