Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that the ‘pran pratishtha’ ceremony of Ram temple in Ayodhya was a matter of immense pride and that his government will try to take as many people as possible to the holy city.
“The Pran Pratishtha of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on 22nd January was a matter of immense pride and happiness for everyone across the world,” he said while addressing a Republic Day program in the national capital.
The Delhi CM highlighted his government’s “teerth-yatra” scheme to 12 pilgrimage sites and said that Ayodhya will also included in that.
“We conduct ‘teerth-yatra’ to 12 pilgrimage sites for senior citizens free of cost. Till now, 83,000 people have been taken on ‘teerth-yatra’. Many people have expressed their desire to visit Ayodhya ji. We will try to take as many people as possible to Ayodhya ji,” he added.
Kejriwal, like all the INDIA alliance partners, chose to skip the ‘pran-pratishtha’ ceremony of Ram temple held on January 22.
While Congress, CPI-M, and TMC cited to “politicisation of religion” as reason to skip the event, Kejriwal said he will visit the Ram temple with his wife and parents after January 22.
“I want to go with my wife, children and parents to visit Ram Mandir. We will go after the consecration ceremony,” Kejriwal told reporters in Delhi.
When asked about the invitation, the Delhi CM said, “I received a letter from them (government)…when we called them, we were informed that a team will come to give a final and personal invitation. That team has not come yet.”