New Delhi- Five Supreme Court judges including present CJI D Y Chandrachud, who were part of the Constitution bench which paved the way for the construction of the Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, are invited as state guests to witness the consecration ceremony on January 22.
While about 8,000 people are in the long list of invitees, the select list features just a few hundred people, including prominent politicians, leading industrialists, top film stars, sportspersons, bureaucrats and diplomats.
Besides the present CJI Chandrachud, former CJIs Ranjan Gogoi and S A Bobde and former judges Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer were part of the bench which had delivered the historic verdict on November 9, 2019.
The unanimous and anonymous verdict had backed the construction of a Ram temple by a government trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for a mosque in the Hindu holy town.
The Uttar Pradesh government’s list of invitees also include over 50 jurists, including former chief justices, judges and top lawyers, as well as K Parasaran, the counsel for ‘Ram Lalla’.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and former Attorney General KK Venugopal are also among the invitees.
The Ram Mandir consecration ceremony will be held on January 22 with the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of the idol of Ram Lalla in the still under-construction temple in Ayodhya.
MEGA STARS AT THE RELIGIOUS EVENT
According to the temple trust, over 8,000 people, including politicians, celebrities, industrialists, saints are slated to attend the ceremony.
The invitation has been sent by the special secretary protocol of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his family as well as Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan are among those who feature in a select state guest list of invitees to the consecration of the Ram temple next week.
According to the list, which PTI has accessed, Bachchan will fly into Ayodhya in a private chartered plane for the opening of the 161-feet tall pink sandstone shrine.
From the film industry, the list features actors Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, Allu Arjun, Mohanlal, Anupam Kher and Chiranjeevi. Besides, sarod maestro Amjad Ali, lyricist and poet Manoj Muntashir and his wife, lyricist and writer Prasoon Joshi, and directors Sanjay Bhansali and Chandraprakash Dwivedi are invited too.
Also on the list are billionaire Mukesh Ambani, his mother Kokilaben, wife Neeta, sons Akash and Anant, daughter-in-law Shloka and would-be-daughter-in-law Radhika Merchant.
Other prominent industrialists invited include Aditya Birla Group chairperson Kumar Mangalam Birla and his wife Nirja, Piramal Group chairperson Ajay Piramal, Mahindra and Mahindra’s Anand Mahindra and DCM Shriram’s Ajay Shriram and TCS CEO K Krithivasan.
K Satish Reddy of Dr Reddy’s Pharmaceuticals, Zee Entertainment Enterprises CEO Punit Goenka, L&T CEO S N Subrahmanyan and his wife, Durali Divi of Divis Laboratories, Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy, Jindal Steel & Power head Naveen Jindal and Naresh Trehan of Medanta Group are there as well.
Former Lok Sabha speaker Meera Kumar and former Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia are also on the list.
India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, former diplomat Amar Sinha, former attorney generals K K Venugopal and Mukul Rohtagi, and Indian women cricket captain Mitali Raj are among others finding mention on the list.
While some on the list are flying in private jets on January 22, others are taking regular flights to reach a day earlier and staying overnight either in Ayodhya or nearby cities like Lucknow.
Half-Day For Central Government Employees
Central Government employees will get a half-day leave on January 22 so that they can watch a live telecast of the grand consecration ceremony at Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh, according to an NDTV report, has confirmed that government offices will have a half-day on January 22. The government has also issued a notification in this regard.
The ministers have been told to light lamps at their homes and feed the poor. They have been asked to celebrate the day like Diwali.
The ministers have also been told to arrange trips to Ayodhya for the people of their constituencies when the temple is opened to the public after the January 22 event. They have been asked to oversee the preparations and accompany residents of their constituencies to Ayodhya on these trips.
My Govt Draws Inspiration From Lord Ram: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said his government is inspired by Lord Ram’s principles of governance with honesty and urged people to light Ram Jyoti on January 22, stressing that it will be an inspiration to remove poverty from their lives.
“Modi’s guarantee means ‘guarantee puri hone ki guarantee’. Lord Ram taught us to honour commitments made and we are fulfilling all goals we set for the welfare of the poor and their empowerment,” he said.
The PM was addressing a gathering in Maharashtra’s Solapur.
Urging people, who got the houses, to light Ram Jyoti on January 22, when the consecration of the Ayodhya Ram temple will be held, PM Modi said it will be an inspiration to eradicate poverty from their lives.
“Lord Ram did the work that made his people happy. My government is dedicated to the welfare and empowerment of the poor. We launched schemes to mitigate their hardships,” he said, adding that the role of middlemen has been completely eradicated in his government’s welfare schemes.
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