While about 8,000 people are in the long list of invitees, the select list features 506 A-listers, including prominent politicians, leading industrialists, top film stars, sportspersons, diplomats, judges and high priests.
"Any patriotic person should discuss Indian politics within India. It does not suit the leader of any party to go abroad and discuss the country's politics and criticise the country. Rahul baba, you must remember that people of the country are watching it closely," Shah said.
Addressing a gathering of around 6,000 in-charges of 'Shakti Kendras,' each comprising two to three booth-level areas, at Marine Drive, the prime minister said that Kerala has the potential to influence who will be in power in Delhi.
The Bharat Ratna for him comes nine years after the honour was bestowed on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The two leaders together spearheaded the journey of the Jana Sangh and then the BJP for over five decades.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has ridiculed the move as 'hypocrisy' saying Congress leaders had termed Lord Ram as an imaginary character.
'Bharat is the core value that has to be lived by and if you deny it, then the people will discard you.'
The new Ram Lalla idol was consecrated at the Ayodhya temple on Monday, an event led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and watched by lakhs of people on television at their homes and in temples across the country.
Saisuresh Sivaswamy/Rediff.com decodes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech after the Pran Prathistha ceremony at Ram Temple in Ayodha.
The PM urged all citizens to light diyas in their houses on January 22 so that the whole country basks in glory.
"Which foreign powers may be interested in taking advantage of unrest and instability in Manipur? Does the geopolitics of south east Asia also have a role in these events," he asked.
The AAP will contest all the 90 assembly seats in Haryana on its own, but the Lok Sabha polls will be fought as part of the INDIA bloc, Kejriwal said.
'They know that if they do not tie up with the Congress, then the minorities will move to the Congress.'
Special prayers are offered twice every day, followed by morning and evening prayers, in the temple before the chief minister's idol.
A revealing excerpt from Mani Shankar Aiyar's fascinating new book, The Rajiv I Knew.
'I have attended many trailer launches, and stood on this stage many times, but today, I'm very emotional.'
Adipurush, based on the Ramayana, stars Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, Sunny Singh and Saif Ali Khan in the lead roles of Ram, Sita, Laxman and Ravan respectively.
Banerjee alleged that the BJP was maligning the name of Lord Ram by organising violence during Ram Navami processions.
The 17-day pilgrimage tour will include nine stops at destinations relevant to Lord Ram.
Is 2024 a done deal for the BJP? It was a done deal five years ago itself, but it did not have a guarantee.
Now, with the temple consecration, it seems to have acquired a Ramji Ki Guarantee, notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should avoid visiting the birthplace of Srimanta Sankardeva at Batadrava on January 22, as there can be no competition between Lord Ram and the medieval age Vaishnav saint revered as an icon in the state.
Following the party's sweep of assembly elections in three Hindi heartland states against the odds, the BJP's brain trust is now busy game-planning as to how it can improve on its 2019 Lok Sabha election tally of 303 seats.
To be produced by Madhu Mantena, the three-film trilogy will be made at a whopping cost of Rs 750 crores (Rs 7.5 billion)!
When he stood to speak for the princes, he surprised the British when he declared, 'The breeze is blowing from east to west. It will uproot and blow off the British. It is my earnest request to my British friends to now quit India respectfully'.
The BJP enters challenging times where it has been given a task to hold onto the values of Ram in running the country as defined by Narendra Modi in Ayodhya, notes Sheela Bhatt.
The transmogrification of Prime Minister Modi to Saint Modi began with the ground-breaking ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. By identifying himself with Lord Ram, Modi raised himself in popular imagination to a saintly person.
Modi believes that the Congress leadership does not have the political sagacity to undertake a course correction because of its preoccupation about not losing its current gains in the voter base, observes Shekhar Iyer.
Narendra Modi has proved through execution of this event in Ayodhya that amongst all his contemporaries in politics he knows ordinary Indians like none other, notes Sheela Bhatt.
'For ages Lord Ram's character had served as a source of unity for the entire Indian sub continent.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on the dilemma of the Congress leadership who may feel that the BJP has secured a clear advantage with Hindu voters and the construction of the Ram temple may pave a way for Modi winning the Lok Sabha election three times in a row.
Accusing Congress of 'abuse culture', Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged the people of Karnataka to punish those indulging in abuse, while casting their vote in polling booths on May 10.
'Sri Ayodhyaji will emerge as the greatest centre of cultural togetherness, universal harmony, vasudeva kutumbakam, compassion, and love for every single living being on this Earth.'
If Saudi Arabia, with just two Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina, can create a huge tourism-based ecosystem beyond oil, Ayodhya is sure to become the world's hottest religious tourism site in less than a decade, predicts R Jagannathan.
'I somehow felt that Muzaffar Ali was in Aligarh to feel the pulse of the Muslim youth, especially in the darker and harsher times that India is passing through,' notes Mohammad Sajjad.
'You can attack and conspire to weaken us, but you cannot destroy the Congress permanently.'
Watching Haddi after a meal is not advised since some scenes could induce nausea, warns Deepa Gahlot.
Springing a surprise, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday picked Mohan Yadav, a leader of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and a three-time MLA, as the next chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, state party president VD Sharma said.
In an interview, he recalled how Hashim Ansari, one of the original litigants in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, took him to the mosque on his bicycle.
Before you catch a brawny Prabhas as the Prince of Ayodhya in its VFX-heavy edition, Sukanya Verma looks at the many, many on screen portrayals of Ram over the years.
In the recent past, Adityanath and the RSS seem to have come closer. The warmth is more on the part of the RSS. And even now, not all requests from the RSS are accommodated by the UP government, points out Aditi Phadnis.
The Union minister asked Gandhi to "follow the law "and secure acquittal from a higher court.
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