On his first visit to Ayodhya after Bharatiya Janata Party’s resounding victory in the Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that millions of people want construction of Ram temple and it would be done in Ayodhya as per Hindu rituals.
Yogi was addressing the janmotsav (birthday) programme of Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas chief Mahant Nritya Gopal Das in Ayodhya, where the Chief Minister also unveiled a 7-foot statue of Lord Ram. The statue has been installed at Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan.
“It is the wish of every Hindu that a magnificent temple of Lord Ram should be constricted at Ayodhya. I also want the same. The wish of the people will be fulfilled,” Yogi said on Friday as the people, mostly saints, shouted Jai Sri Ram.
He did not elaborate how the construction would start but said that sadhus here believed that unveiling of the statue of Kodamb Ram signified the step towards construction of the temple at Ayodhya.
“The governments, which came to power after 1947, were shy of taking the name of Lord Ram. It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who promoted Ayodhya and the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh carried forward the work done by Modi,” the Chief Minister said.
He said the parties which played negative politics had been discarded by the people.
“In the recent past, two important developments took place. One was the victory of Modi in Lok Sabha elections and the other was the successful organisation of Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj. The Kumbh Mela was held at a mega scale which drew global attention,” Yogi said.
For the first time, UNESCO recognised Kumbh as a cultural festival and this year, 193 countries participated in this mega event, the Chief Minister said.
Talking about the slew of development works being carried out in Ayodhya, Yogi said several welfare and development schemes were being implemented in the region for the betterment of the people of Ayodhya.
“This is the land of Lord Ram and when the BJP came to power, the district was named Ayodhya and we also formed a municipal corporation in its name,” he said.
On BJP coming back to power under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Yogi said all saints and seers had given their blessings to Narendra Modi to work for the nation.
“A strong and prosperous nation leads to peace and harmony. Under the leadership of PM Modi, the fast paced development has increased India’s prestige across the world,” he said.
The Ram statue unveiled by Yogi is made of a single block of rosewood and purchased from Karnataka. It is of Kodamb Ram, one of the five forms of Lord Ram.
A postage stamp on Lord Ram was also released on this occasion.
Yogi Adityanath offered prayers at the makeshift Ram Lalla temple, visited the Hanumangarhi temple and inspected a pump house being constructed at the banks of the Saryu river.
