Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani stayed away from the praan pratishthaa ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, citing the extreme cold conditions in north India. Advani is now 96. The Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra had reportedly told him and his colleague, Murli Manohar Joshi, not to attend the January 22 ceremony. However, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad then made a show of inviting the two senior BJP leaders.
The 96-year-old BJP veteran’s appearance was met with much skepticism. The Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra, or Ram Mandir trust, has previously stated that LK Advani and his senior party colleague Murli Manohar Joshi are unlikely to attend the ‘Praan Pratisthaa’ owing to their health and age. Earlier this month, the Vishwa Hindu Parsihad announced that it had invited BJP heavyweights Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to attend the Ram Temple’s consecration event. The decision came after an uproar over Ram Temple Trust general secretary Champat Rai’s comment that both leaders were ‘requested’ not to attend the event due to their advanced age.
“Invited respected Lal Krishna Advani ji and respected Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi ji, the pioneer of Ram Mandir movement, to attend the Praan Pratishthaa programme of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on 22 January 2024,” said the right wing outfit in a post on X after BJP suffered backlash following Rai’s statement. “Both the seniors said they will make every effort to come,” said Alok Kumar, VHP’s International Executive President. Previously, Champat Rai told reporters, “Both are elders of the family and considering their age, they were requested not to come, which was accepted by both.”
Earlier on January 12, Advani said that destiny had decided that a grand temple of Lord Ram would be built in Ayodhya and it chose Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this. He stated this in an article ‘Ram Mandir Nirman, Ek Divya Swapna Ki Purti’. In his article, Advani referred to the ‘Rath Yatra’ he took out 33 years ago for Ram temple construction and said he believes the Ayodhya movement was the “most decisive and transformative event” in his political journey which allowed him to “re-discover India and, in the process, re-understand himself”. A pivotal moment in the Ram Mandir movement unfolded in 1990 with the launch of the Rath Yatra led by BJP’s then-president Lal Krishna Advani. This mass mobilisation, appreciated by the public at the time, saw Advani leading the Rath Yatra from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya, expressing support for the Ram Temple agitation. Commencing on September 25, 1990, in Somnath, the Yatra included thousands of kar sevaks, or volunteers, affiliated with the Sangh Parivar.