Covid-19: Uma Bharti to not attend Ram Temple 'bhoomi pujan', says concerned about PM Modi's health

Former Union minister Uma Bharti on Monday said she will go for darshan of Lord Ram in Ayodhya after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others leave the venue of the ground-breaking ceremony for Ram temple construction there, in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

The 61-year-old senior BJP leader's comments came a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah said he tested positive for the coronavirus.

Bharti was among the leaders of the Ram Janambhoomi agitation and is an accused in the Babri mosque demolition case.

The ground-breaking ceremony of the Ram temple is scheduled to be held on Wednesday in Ayodhya and is expected to be attended by Prime Minister Modi.

"I will leave Bhopal today and on the way I might come in contact with a coronavirus infected person. Taking this into account, I will keep a distance from the place where @narendramodi and hundreds of others will be present," Bharti tweeted in Hindi.

"I will go for darshan of Ramlala after @narendramodi and others leave the venue," she further said.

"I have informed senior officer-bearers of Ram Janambhoomi Nyas at Ayodhya and @PMOIndia not to incorporate my name in the list of the people during @narendramodis function," she said.

Bharti in an earlier tweet said a senior office-bearer of the Ram Janambhoomi Trust directed her to reach Ayodhya by August 4 evening and be present there till August 6.

Veteran BJP leaders LK Advani, MM Joshi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat are among those being invited to the 'bhoomi pujan' ceremony of Ram temple in Ayodhya on August 5 which will be shown live by Doordarshan, trustees of the temple said on Sunday.

Besides them, there is also a view to invite spiritual leaders from all faiths, Anil Mishra, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust, told PTI.

The mosque in Ayodhya was demolished in December 1992 by 'kar sevaks' who claimed an ancient Ram temple had stood on the same site.

In November last year, the Supreme Court paved the way for the construction of Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot an alternative five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a "prominent" place in the holy town.