Consecration rituals begin at Ram temple in Ayodhya:Rahul finds ‘election flavour’ in it, BJP hits back

The idol of Lord Ram will be placed inside the sanctum of the temple on Wednesday as part of a series of rituals to be held every day till January 21 

Mahant Nritya Gopal Das lights a 108-ft long incense stick (dhoop-batti) brought from Vadodara in Gujarat ahead of the Ram Mandir ‘Pran Pratishthan’ programme, in Ayodhya district, on January 16, 2024:Photo Credit: PTI 

PTI, January 16, 2024, LUCKNOW: Rituals in the run-up to the January 22 Ram Mandir consecration ceremony started at the temple complex hereon Tuesday, its chief priest said. These will continue till January 21. On January 22, the minimum essential rituals needed for the "PranPratishtha"(consecration) of the idol of Ram Lalla will be conducted, temple trust general secretary Champat Rai had told reporters on Monday.

The 'anushthan' has started and will continue till January 22, the day of the consecration ceremony. Eleven priests are performing the rituals invoking all the "devis and devtas" (goddesses and gods)," Ram temple chief priest Acharya Satyendra Das said. The trust said there are seven adhivasas in the "PranPratishtha" and a minimum of three adhivasas are in practice. There are 121 "acharyas" who are conducting the rituals and Ganeshwar Shastri Dravid is overseeing, coordinating and directing all proceedings of the "anushthan".

The principal "acharya" will be Laxmikant Dixit Dixit of Kashi. The Ram temple "PranPratishtha" will begin at 12:20 pm on January 22, Rai had said. The rituals preceding the "PranPratishtha" started with the "prayaschita" and "karmakutipoojan", according to a schedule released by the Sri Ram Janmbhoomi TeerthKshetra Trust.

On January 17, the idol's "parisarpravesh" will be completed, followed by "teerthpoojan", "jalyatra" and "gandhadhivas" on January 18 and "aushadhadhivas", "kesaradhivas", "ghritadhivas" and "dhanyadhivas" on January 19.On January 20, rituals related to "sharkaradhivas", "phaladhivas" and "pushpadhivas" will be held.

On January 21, the "madhyadhivas" and "shaiyadhivas" rituals will be completed, according the schedule. Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged on Tuesday that the Ram temple consecration event in Ayodhya has been made into a "Narendra Modi and RSS-BJP function" with an "election flavour", as he strongly defended the decision of his party's top leaders to decline the invite to the ceremony.

Rahul's remarks at a press conference during the Bharat JodoNyayYatra here came days after the Congress top brass declined the invitation to the event at the Ram temple in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. "The RSS and the BJP have made the January 22 function a completely political, Narendra Modi function. It has become an RSS- BJP function. I think that is why the Congress president (Mallikarjun Kharge) said he will not go to the function. We are open to all religions, all practices. Even the biggest authorities of the Hindu religion have made their views public on what they think about the January 22 event -- that it is a political function," the former Congress president said. 

"It is difficult for us to go to a political function, which is designed around the Prime Minister of India and the RSS. We have made it clear that whoever among our partners or our party would like to visit the Ram temple is welcome to do it. It is difficult for us to visit (the temple) on January 22. That this is a prime minister's function and an RSS function and we are going to attend it ... it is not possible," he added. 

"We cannot be a party to a political function. It is very difficult for us when the Prime Minister of India and the RSS, our principal opponents, have captured a function and turned it into an election function....The BJP and the RSS have given an election flavour to the event," Rahul said. 

On the opposition INDIA bloc, he asserted that the alliance is strong and will defeat the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) in the upcoming LokSabha polls.

"There is mutual respect and affection between the leaders in the INDIA formation. The INDIA formation is an ideological formation that is placing itself in opposition to the idea of the RSS and the BJP. I am very confident that small problems in the alliance will be resolved. We will fight together and defeat them," Rahul said.

The BJP attacked the Congress leader saying he would like people to believe that the faith of Hindus can be manipulated but no one wants him to interpret how they should practice their beliefs.

The Ram temple is a deeply felt emotion by Hindus in every corner of the country, Union minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar said after Rahul accused the BJP of turning the January 22 consecration ceremony at Ayodhya into a party event.

"Rahul Gandhi lives in a la-la world. He thinks everything he says is predicated on nobody understanding the truth and he can get away with these atrocious lies. "He tried so in 2014 and 2019 and is trying again. The people of India are wise enough. They understand the truth and what his politics is about," he said.

The minister cited the performance of the Congress government in Karnataka which he blamed for "corruption and farmers' distress" in the state.