Ayodhya: Light Ram jyoti in your homes and celebrate Diwali during the Ram Temple inauguration but don’t come to Ayodhya on that day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during his visit to the temple city Saturday.
Modi was here to inaugurate the revamped Ayodhya airport — now renamed Maharishi Valmiki International Airport — and the redeveloped Ayodhya Dham Junction ahead of the Ram temple inauguration on 22 January.
“I have a request to make to everyone. Everyone wants to come to Ayodhya to be a part of the event on 22 January. But you know it’s not possible. And so, I request all Ram bhakts that once the formal programme is done on 22 January, they should come to Ayodhya at their convenience, but they should not decide to come to Ayodhya on 22 January,” he said at a public meeting after the inauguration.
This “historic movement had come during our lifetimes”, he said, adding: “We have taken a new resolution for the country and fill our lives with a new energy.”
In addition to inaugurating the airport and the railway station, he flagged off eight new high-speed trains — two Amrit Bharats and six Vande Bharats — and opened the public four redeveloped roads, Rampath, Bhaktipath, Dharampath, and Ram Janmabhoomi Path. He also held a roadshow just ahead of his rally.
Modi’s visit to Ayodhya sets the stage for the grand opening of the Ram temple, which has been part of the Sangh Parivar’s agenda for over 30 years. The appeal to the general public to put off visiting Ayodhya until after the inauguration ceremony comes amid reports of hotels in the city scrambling to reserve bookings only for VVIPs.
This event comes less than six months before the general election.
Meanwhile, the first plane to reach the newly launched Maharishi Valmiki airport was piloted by 43-year-old Ashutosh Shekhar of Indigo.
“It’s a matter of privilege that I had been given the opportunity to fly the first plane to Ayodhya,” Shekhar said in his flight announcement, signing off with ‘Jai Shree Ram’ instead of the customary ‘Jai Hind’.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia also joined PM Modi during the inauguration of the international airport, the first phase of which cost an estimated Rs 1,450 crore. The 6,500 sq. m airport is expected to serve around 10 lakh people annually.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)