Serum Institute's Adar Poonawalla invited to Ram Temple consecration: 'Humbled'

On Friday, Serum Institute of India (SII) chief Adar Poonawalla took to X to express his excitement upon receiving the invitation to the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. “I am humbled to receive the invitation to the Prabhu Shri Ram Lalla Mandir at Ayodhya through senior RSS functionaries like Shri. @Manojpochat, Pracharak Shri. Kedar Kulkarni & Shri. Prasad Lawalekar. Wholeheartedly I have accepted the invitation and it will be an honour to visit the Shri. Ram Mandir soon.”

Poonawalla also posted a photo of him receiving the invitation. The SII chief is the latest to receive the invite to the ‘pran pratishtha’ ceremony. Several politicians including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and others received the invitation.

The industrialists who received the invitation include businessman Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ratan Tata, Gautam Adani, TS Kalyanaraman and the like.

However, the Congress party in its official statement clarified that its senior leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury would not be attending the consecration event to be held in Ayodhya.

"While abiding by the 2019 Supreme Court judgment and honouring the sentiments of millions who revere Lord Ram, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have respectfully declined the invitation to what is clearly an RSS/BJP event," the statement issued by Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.

Leaders like SP's Akhilesh Yadav and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal announced they would participate in the ceremony.

The consecration ceremony of Ram Lalla will be held in Ayodhya on Monday. More than 11,000 guests nationwide have received invitations from the Trust for the ceremony, with special arrangements underway to provide gifts to all attendees.