 "Who's who from business, cinema, politics, sports attend Ram temple event")
Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, business tycoons Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi N Mittal, and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar were among India's crme de la crme who attended the grand consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya on Monday.
While the list of invitees included about 8,000 names, the select list featured 506 A-listers, including prominent politicians, leading industrialists, top film stars, sportspersons, diplomats, judges and high priests.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his family, steel tycoon Lakshmi N Mittal, telecom czar Sunil Bharti Mittal, Reliance Group head Anil Ambani, and Aditya Birla group chairperson Kumar Mangalam Birla and his daughter Ananya Birla were among some of India Inc.'s prominent faces that attended the ceremony.
Bachchan flew into Ayodhya in a private chartered plane for the consecration of the 51-inch Ram Lalla idol. He was accompanied by his actor son Abhishek Bachchan.
Actor Kangana Ranaut, who reached Ayodhya on Saturday, hailed the ceremony as a "divine experience". She visited the Hanumangarhi temple on Sunday and also participated in a cleanliness drive there.
Ranaut was also seen raising slogans of 'Jai Shree Ram' as Army helicopters showered flower petals on guests after the consecration ceremony was over.
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Besides Ranaut, Rajinikanth, Hema Malini, Pawan Kalyan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Subhash Ghai, Shefali Shah and her husband Vipul Shah, Randeep Hooda and his wife Lin Laishram, Aadinath Mangeshkar, Anu Malik and Sonu Nigam were among those from the film industry who arrived in the temple town on Sunday.
Nigam, Anuradha Paudwal and Shankar Mahadevan sang devotional songs, enthralling the audience with their renditions of Ram bhajans.
Bollywood actors Ranbir Kapoor and his wife Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal and his wife Katrina Kaif, Jackie Shroff, Anupam Kher, Madhuri Dixit and her husband, film director Rohit Shetty, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, and singers Kailash Kher and Jubin Nautiyal also attended the ceremony.
Actor Arun Govil, who portrayed the role of Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar's TV series 'Ramayan', and his co-star Dipika Chikhlia, who played the role of Goddess Sita, arrived in the temple town last week.
Dressed as Lord Ram and Goddess Sita, Govil and Chikhlia also shot for a video in Ayodhya, images of which went viral on social media.
Sadhvi Ritambhara and former Union minister Uma Bharti also attended the event. They embraced each other as tears rolled down their eyes during the ceremony. Yoga guru Ramdev, spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar, Morari Bapu and Acharya Balkrishna were also on the guest list.
Lok Sabha MP and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad was also present in Ayodhya. Former athlete P T Usha, cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, and badminton player Saina Nehwal were some of the sports stars who were present.
Prashant Ruia, director of Essar Capital, the investment manager for the Essar Group, too was in Ayodhya for the event.
Sridhar Vembu, CEO of tech company Zoho, shared on X pictures from the Ram temple with his family.
The consecration of the Ram Lalla idol was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and watched by lakhs of people on television at their homes and in temples across the country.
Modi performed a series of rituals at the temple with the 'pran pratishtha' taking place during the 84-second 'abhijeet muhurta'. At the end of the rituals, the prime minister prostrated before the idol, which depicts the child Ram.
The ceremony took place in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.
The invitees were presented a 'Ram patka' (scarf) and welcomed with tilak. All invitees were presented a bell which they rang during the 'aarti'.
A book on Ayodhya, a metal 'diya', a special 'mala' and a scarf bearing the name of Lord Ram were some of the gifts given to the guests. The gifts were given in a bag with a striking image of the new temple and a very young avatar of Lord Ram.
Senior BJP leader and former deputy prime minister L K Advani and party veteran Murli Manohar Joshi, both of whom played prominent roles in the Ram temple movement, were also invited to the ceremony. The family of Kalyan Singh, who was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when the Babri Masjid was demolished, was also on the list of invitees.
Former Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya, former presidents Ramnath Kovind and Pratibha Patil, and former vice president M Venkaiah Naidu were also invited.
Former ISRO chairperson K Sivan, DRDO scientist Sudarshan Sharma, Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, ISRO director Nilesh Desai, senior advocate Harish Salve as well as former diplomats Veena Sikri and Lakshmi Puri, Sudhanshu Mani, the brain behind Vande Bharat Express train, and G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant were also among the invitees.
Former Union minister Arun Jaitley's wife Sangeeta and daughter Sonali, former Planning Commission chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia, former Lok Sabha speakers Sumitra Mahajan and Meira Kumar, and former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy were also on the list of invitees.
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