PM Modi likely to perform puja in Ayodhya on Aug 5
nLUCKNOW:PRIME Minister Narendra Modi is likely to perform puja in the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram Janmabhoomi site before laying the foundation stone of the Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya town on August 5, said a senior member of the temple trust.
Modi will be guided by an 11-member team of priests from Varanasi and Ayodhya who will perform Vedic rituals, added the member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust, who spoke on condition of anonymity. At around 12.15pm, the PM is expected to lay the foundation stone of the Ram temple.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, defence minister Rajnath Singh, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat and other invitees will be present at ‘prathana mandap’ [prayer pavilion] at Ram Janmabhoomi. Seers are expected to be seated in special pavilions around the sanctorum and recite hymns.
The seating arrangement for invitees is likely to be made below the five proposed domes of the Ram temple. “The main area in Ram Janmabhoomi campus will be covered with a waterproof tent so that inclement weather conditions do not hamper the ceremony,” said Mahant Kamal Nayan Das, successor-designate to Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, chairman of the trust. “A time capsule will be placed several hundred feet below the surface at Ram Janmabhoomi to make sure there is no dispute over the Ram temple in future,” added Das.
Around 200 people are likely to be invited for the ceremony, said a second senior trust member. The list of invitees will include prominent industrialists, politicians as well as prominent religious leaders of Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhist sects.