UP CM Yogi Adityanath to be invited to lay foundation stone for mosque in Ayodhya

Days after Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said that he would not attend the inauguration of the proposed mosque to be built near Ayodhya, the 'Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation' Trust, which was overseeing the mosque construction, said that it would 'invite' the CM for laying the foundation stone for the hospital, library, a research centre to be built inside the mosque complex.

A Trust spokesman said on Saturday that the five-acre complex on which the Mosque would come would also have a hospital, a library, a community kitchen and a Research Centre beside the mosque.

''As all these things are for the welfare of the people, we have decided to invite Yogi Adityanath for their brick laying....we expect the CM to only take part in the event but also lend all possible help in their construction,'' he said.

READ: Yogi stirs controversy with "won't go to Mosque inauguration" remarks; SP seeks apology

He said that there was no plan to hold a brick laying ceremony for the mosque construction.

The spokesman said that no decision had yet been taken on whether to 'name' the proposed mosque. There were speculations that the proposed mosque could be named 'Babri Masjid', which had been demolished by the 'karsevaks' in Ayodhya in 1992.

Adityanath had recently said that he would ''neither be invited to the inauguration of the Mosque nor would he go there''. ''They (those building the mosque) will not invite me....I know that...I won't go there,'' the chief minister said when asked if he would go to the Mosque inauguration ceremony.

The Sunni Central Waqf Board has been allotted five acres of land at Raunahin, about 30 kilometres from Ayodhya for building a mosque as per the supreme court order. The Board has set up an Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation Trust to oversee the construction of the mosque.