“Yes, I have received the invitation from Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for the bhoomi pujan ceremony. I will certainly attend it. The dispute is over now after the court’s verdict,” Ansari, 69, said. “‘Our Prime Minister is coming. I will meet him and give him a ‘Ramnami’ stole (with Ram’s name written on it) and Ramcharitmanas as a present,” Ansari said.

His father Hashim Ansari, the oldest litigant in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi land dispute case, died at the age of 95 in 2016 after which the son started pursuing the case in the court.

Talking about Wednesday’s ground-breaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction of a grand Ram temple here, Ansari said, “I belong to Ayodhya. All this (temple’s construction) will change the fate of Ayodhya. We all want our child to get better opportunities”.

He further said, “I respect sadhus and saints. I am happy to have received the invitation for the ceremony. I think it is Lord Ram’s will that I attend it”.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is unlikely to visit Ayodhya for the ‘bhoomi pujan’ for Ram temple construction there on August 5 owing to the serious COVID-19 situation in the Uttar Pradesh town, senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut indicated on Monday. “It is important that the PM is going. The chief minister (Thackeray) can go there anytime,” Raut told reporters here while extending good wishes for the ceremony.