Advani, Joshi not invited to August 5 temple event in Ayodhya

Veteran BJP leaders LK Advani and MM Joshi have not been invited to the groundbreaking ceremony of the Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya on August 5, reported NDTV. But invitations have been sent to former union minister Uma Bharti and former chief minister Kalyan Singh, the report said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited and will attend the event.

Advani and Joshi last week recorded their statements in connection with the Babri Masjid demolition case. The temple is going to come up at the site where the mosque once stood before it was destroyed on December 6, 1992.

The two leaders, accused in the mosque’s demolition, appeared before a special CBI court via videoconferencing to record their statement. They denied all the charges against them.

Singh, former CM of Uttar Pradesh, told NDTV that he had no regrets over the events of December 6, 1992, according to the report. Bharti, a former CM of Madhya Pradesh, was accused of conspiracy in the case along with Joshi and Advani, it said. She too has recorded her statement in the case.

All the above leaders have been accused of delivering incendiary speech from a dais near the mosque and motivating the destruction process.

Reports suggest Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray too is yet to be invited to the August 5 event. His party, Shiv Sena, has demanded an invitation underlining its efforts in support of the Ram temple movement.

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