Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has received the invitation to the Ram Temple consecration ceremony on Saturday -- two days before the event-- through speed post. A massive row began after the Udhhav faction earlier slammed the BJP for not inviting Uddhav to the ceremony and now that a postal invitation has reached Uddhav, the party is furious as Sanjay Raut said Lord Ram will curse them for this.
"You are giving a special invitation to the celebrities and film stars. They had nothing to do with Ram Janmabhoomi, But you are treating the Thackeray family this way? Thackeray had played a major and important role in the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation. Lord Ram will not forgive you and will curse for this. You are praying to Lord Ram and running the government like Ravana," Sanjay Raut said, as quoted by Saamana.
Uddhav Thackeray earlier said he does not need an invitation to visit Ram Temple and has already been there a few times. Instead, he raised a demand that the consecration ceremony be performed by President Droupadi Murmu in place of PM Modi. Ram temple was his father Balasaheb Thackeray's dream, Udhhav said, calling this a moment of happiness that the temple will be opened, but he slammed how the BJP captured the event.
"I am a Ram bhakt, a desh bhakt, and not andh bhakt. The construction of Ram Temple was my father's dream," Uddhav said as he announced his party's plan on January 22. Uddhav will be offering prayers at Nashik's Kalaram Temple on January 22 the same time when PM Modi will be inaugurating the Ram Temple.
{{/usCountry}}"I am a Ram bhakt, a desh bhakt, and not andh bhakt. The construction of Ram Temple was my father's dream," Uddhav said as he announced his party's plan on January 22. Uddhav will be offering prayers at Nashik's Kalaram Temple on January 22 the same time when PM Modi will be inaugurating the Ram Temple.
{{/usCountry}}The Congress, CPM, Trinamool, Samajwadi party leaders will be skipping the event -- triggering a major controversy. Akhilesh said he would visit the Ram Temple with his full family after the temple is opened. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said he will visit the temple with his family -- his parents wish to visit the temple -- but after the inauguration event.
Ram Temple consecration event: Long list of VVIPs
At least 8,000 people are on the list of invitees including film stars, sportspersons, priests, judges, industrialists and politicians. Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, Mohanlal, Prabhas, Allu Arjun, Junior NTR, Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Ajay Devgn, Hema Malini, Sunny Deol, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kangana Ranaut Madhuri Dixit are among the invitees.
Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, lyricist and poet Manoj Muntashir and his wife, lyricist and writer Prasoon Joshi, and director Sanjay Bhansali have been invited as state guests.
Madhur Bhandarkar, Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal, Anup Jalota, Sonu Nigam, Anuradha Paudwal, Kailash Kher have been invited. Actor Arun Govil, who portrayed Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar's TV series "Ramayan", has also been invited as has his co-star in the show Dipika Chikhlia who played the role of Sita.
Sachin Tendulkar, chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, sprint queen PT Usha and footballer Bhaichung Bhutia are among the prominent sports personalities. Apart from them, Kapil Dev, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sunil Gavaskar, Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Virendra Sehwag, Ravindra Jadeja and Rohit Sharma have been invited.