The chief priest of the Ram temple in Ayodhya Friday welcomed BJP stalwart L K Advani's decision to attend the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22 and said it would be a joyous moment for the temple town.
Advani, 96, is a founding member of the BJP and was at the forefront of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in the 1980s and early 1990s.
The Ram temple trust had last month said that both Advani and Joshi were unlikely to attend the consecration ceremony due to their health and age.
However, on Thursday, VHP working president Alok Kumar said, "Advani ji has said that he will come. If required, we will make special arrangements for him."
Reacting to it, Acharya Satyendra Das, the chief priest of the Ram temple, said, "It will be a joyous moment for Ayodhya if Advaniji is coming to have darshan of Ram Lalla."
"All credit goes to Advani that he created public awareness among the Hindu masses for the Ram Janambhoomi."
Giving a detailed list of the invitees at a press conference in Ayodhya, trust general secretary Champat Rai had earlier told reporters, "Both are elders of the family and considering their age, they were requested not to come, which was accepted by both."
As Rai's statement kicked off a controversy, VHP working president Kumar said in a statement the next day that he had invited Advani and Joshi to attend the consecration ceremony.
Both Advani and Joshi said they would make “every effort” to join the ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22, the VHP leader had said in a statement on December 19.
Mahant Ram Das, a priest of a Siyaram temple in Ayodhya, said, "If Advaniji is coming to Ayodhya on that auspicious day, it will be like a real homecoming of Lord Ram from exile."
"Ayodhya will be fortunate to see Advaniji after such a long time. The last time he visited Ayodhya was in the year 2005. He will be at the temple town after 18 years, and he will bring good luck to the residents of Ayodhya," said Pran Nath Tripathi, a priest in Ayodhya.
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