Ayodhya is already in a festive mood preparing for the mega Deepavali festivity occasioned by the eighth Deepotsav. Beautiful with beating of tableaux depicting characters in Ramayan a colorful procession has enthralled the temple town for this year’s festival. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has vowed to make this Diwali as bright as possible as its the first Diwali after the consecration of Ram Lalla at the newly built grand temple inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The whole event will include, more than 25 lakh diyas being lit across Ayodhya and an aerial drone display. Mahant Raju Das of Ayodhya’s Hanumangarhi temple expressed joy: “Earlier, Ram Lalla was sitting in a tent… But now ‘Prabhu’ will also sit in new mandir for celebration,” he said.
Although completed in time for the temple’s inauguration this year, it was a longtime desire of devotees, and a leading aim of the Sangh Parivar. They have assumed more and more ritualistic dimensions after the Supreme Court’s Ram Janmabhoomi verdict in 2019 which made the construction of the Ram Temple possible. The priest of Hanumangarhi temple said that there is no Deepotsav without PM Modi and Ram Temple’s Praan Pratisthaa is also impossible without him. This time he also praised CM Yogi Adityanath for coming ahead in support of development of Ayodhya.
This deepotsav is equally political in all respects. Despite these facts the BJP had learnt the reality, when in the recent Lok Sabha elections lost its gains particularly in Uttar Pradesh. This loss has instigated CM Adityanath to focus and unite public saying, “Maa Sita cannot be made to repeat the Agni Pareeksha again.
While the BJP continues with efforts to renew the alliance with the RSS, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s commitment to the ideology has enhanced the Modi’s party slogan; Batenge to Katenge into Maharashtra political lexicon. The party’s mission to consolidate the Hindu vote bank mainly revolves around Lord Ram and Ram Mandir, the plan is a revival across the entire nation.