Prime Minister Narendra Modi will light the first diya in Ayodhya on Sunday as the city will make an attempt to create a history in the Guinness Book of World Record by lighting 15 lakh earthen lamps at one go.
Uttar Pradesh’s Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh told reporters here that by lighting the first lamp, the prime minister would inaugurate the Deepotsav and the whole of Ayodhya city would glitter in flickering lights of earthen lamps.
“All preparations have been made. Though this is the sixth Deepotsav, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is coming to Ayodhya for the first time for this function. Ayodhya has been decked up to welcome the prime minister as gates have been built from bypass to the new ghat,” Singh said.
He said that a yatra comprising 11 tableaux used to be organised every year but this time the number of tableaux had been increased to 16. This yatra would reach Ram Katha Path from Saket Mahavidyalaya via the main road, he added.
The minister said that this time 15 lakh earthen lamps would be lit, and the diyas had come from all the villages across the state.
The ghats have been decorated. The diyas have been placed at the ghats by over 22,000 volunteers. From the morning of October 23, the volunteers will fill these lamps with oil and at around 6:30 in the evening the prime minister will light the first diya, called Mayur diya.
This time the Deepotsav function will be streamed live across the globe.
Bharatiya Janata Party district president Sanjeev Singh and local MLA Ved Prakash Gupta also addressed the reporters.
Meanwhile, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi is adorned with quintals of flowers to make Deepotsav even more magnificent. Along with native types, special exotic floral decorations have been created.
Teams of specialist artists have been invited from areas like Mathura, Sitapur, and other cities to work continually on the decoration.
Balkrishna Saini, who took the responsibility of flower decoration, stated that the flowers were imported to adorn the place of Lord Ramlala. These flowers will be utilised to make rangolis as well as decorate the Ram temple and the welcome gate.
Six quintal white, blue, yellow, purple flower petals and green leaves have been used to make rangoli. About 40 quintals of marigolds and 2,000 bundles of gerbera flowers have been used to decorate the Ram temple.
In addition, various species of flowers from Kolkata and Bengaluru were purchased, including orchids, lilies, denim, and carnations. Balkrishna Saini said that earlier he had done floral decoration during Shri Ram Lalla's pranan pratishthan.