An areal view of city of Ayodhya decked up like a bride ahead of South Korean First Lady Kim Jung-sook visit for Deepotsav, in Ayodhya, Monday. Kim Jung-sook will be the chief guest at the 'Deepotsav' event being organised by the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday.
The Uttar Pradesh government has drawn plans for a grand celebration of Diwali in the temple town of Ayodhya with South Korean first lady Kim Jung-Sook to be the chief guest at the high-octane Deepotsava.
Today, Sook met India's First Lady at the Rashtrapati Bhawan and called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
She met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and attended an event at a school in New Delhi.
Later, in the evening, she left for Lucknow where she was scheduled to meet Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
On Tuesday, she will leave for Ayodhya where she will attend the ground-breaking ceremony of the Queen Suriratna (Heo Hwang-ok) memorial.
"The First Lady's participation in the festivities in Ayodhya will showcase our close civilisational links as well as the ongoing deepening engagement between our two countries," the Ministry of External Affairs had said last week.
According to Korean legends, Princess Suriratna from Ayodhya had travelled to Korea and married King Kim Suro and became Queen Heo Hwang-ok some 2000 years ago.
The South Korean First Lady will also attend the 'Deepotsav' event in the evening on Tuesday.
Kim will leave for Agra on Wednesday for a visit to thee Taj Mahal before heading home.
This will be the second year in row that the Chief Minister will celebrate Diwali in Ayodhya and lead the lighting of over three lakh ‘diyas’ (earthen lamps), decorated by 5000 children, on the banks of river Saryu.
The highlight of the programmes slated for the occasion are the laying of foundation stone of the pedestal on which grand statues of Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman will be installed in the holy city.
The celebrations commenced from Sunday and will end on November 6 with an effort being made to create a world record by lighting three lakh ‘diyas’ on the banks of river Saryu.
The government also plans to construct a museum near the statue. It will have an art gallery and an auditorium. The museum and the art gallery will depict the life of Lord Ram, while the auditorium will host Ramlilas.
Apart from this, several other events have been planned to be organised in Ayodhya from November 4 to 6. Ramlila troupes from across the country have been invited to perform in the city.
The ‘Ram-Sita’ duo, who will emerge winners on these two days will perform in a grand Ramlila scheduled to be staged on November 6, when the Diwali celebration take place in Ayodhya.
Water and laser shows will also be organised during the events, and flowers will be showered by helicopters during the celebrations.
Besides UP Governor Ram Naik and Bihar Governor Lalji Tandon, ministers in the Yogi Adityanath Council of Ministers will attend the celebrations in the temple town.
Governors of several states from across the country will attend the event.
President of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Uttar Pradesh unit, Mahendra Nath Pandey, said the Chief Minister was expected to make some major announcement in Ayodhya during the Diwali celebrations.
‘’Diwali aane dijiye, khushkhabari ki pratiksha kijiye... Mukhya Mantri ke haathon wo yojana saamne aayegi to uchit hoga (Let Diwali come, wait for the good news. It would be appropriate if the scheme is announced by the Chief Minister himself),” Pandey said.
With the proposed statue of Lord Ram at Ayodhya, the BJP, it seems, is building up the rhythm which will eventually lead to the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The National Democratic Alliance government and the BJP are already under pressure from the RSS to bring an ordinance for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. The RSS on Friday had said that Hindus were feeling “insulted” by the Supreme Court’s declaration that the Ayodhya issue was not a priority and insisted that an ordinance be brought if all options run out.
After a three-day RSS conclave in Maharashtra, the organisation’s general secretary, Bhaiyyaji Joshi, had said that the organisation “will not hesitate to launch an agitation for Ram temple, if needed, but since the matter is in the Supreme Court, there are restrictions.”.
Religious groups and sadhus are also building pressure for construction of Ram temple, either through a legislation by Parliament or by bringing an ordinance and it seems the BJP government is left with little options.
On October 29, the Supreme Court had put off the hearing on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case to the first week of January 2019 before an appropriate bench, which would decide the schedule of hearing.
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( With inputs from agencies )
