7000 VVIPs expected to converge in Ayodhya
January 22, 2024 08:13Yogi Adityanath takes a selfie with a sand art sculpture
While more than 7,000 people are on the list of invitees for the event, the select list features 506 A-listers.
Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, business tycoons Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, and sporting icon Sachin Tendulkar are among the prominent people invited to the event.
Those attending the "Pran Prathishtha" also include people linked to the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation. Almost all opposition leaders invited to the ceremony have declined to be in attendance, with the Congress calling it a "BJP-RSS event".
The consecration ceremony is being held after the first phase of the temple's construction, made possible by a historic Supreme Court judgment in 2019 on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit. The Hindu litigants argued that the Babri Mosque was constructed at the site of a temple marking the birthplace of Lord Ram. In 1992, the 16th century mosque was demolished by "kar sevaks".