In a first by any Prime Minister, Narendra Modi will attend the historic Aishbagh Ramlila in Lucknow on Dussehra next week, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice president and city Mayor Dinesh Sharma said on Tuesday.
The move is seen as yet another attempt to connect to the people of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.
Sharma, who is also the Ramlila's patron, said Modi has accepted his invitation to attend the October 11 event, which dates back to the times of Hindu saint Tulsidas. Modi would witness the famous 'Ram Leela' at Aishbagh and then fire the symbolic arrow to burn the effigy of demon king Ravana, he said.
It is for the first time any Prime Minister is celebrating the festival in the state capital. Even Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was Lok Sabha member from Lucknow when he was Prime Minister, did not visit the city on Dussehra.
As tradition, all previous prime ministers have spent Dussehra in the union capital and have witnessed the Ravan Dahan in Delhi where even the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha shares the stage with the PM at the Ram Leela ground festivities.
Dinesh Sharma said that Prime Minister Modi, after spending around two hours in the city, will fly back to New Delhi. He has no other engagements during his visit to Lucknow. It is however not clear whether Modi will attend the Ram Leela in New Delhi and then fly to Lucknow or skip the Delhi event.
Modi's visit assumes an added significance because of assembly polls due next year in Uttar Pradesh where the saffron party is making a concerted bid to come back to power after a gap of 15 years and is up against ruling Samajwadi Party and main opposition Mayawati-led BSP.
The Aishbagh Ramlila is also seen as a symbol of pluralistic culture, also called 'Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb', as Muslim rulers patronised it and allotted it space equal to Eidgah, which is situated right next to it.
In the absence of strong regional leaders, BJP is again banking on Modi's appeal to power its campaign in the state, which it swept in the Lok Sabha polls riding on a national wave in his support but where it is perceived to have slipped since.
The party had earlier said that Modi will be in the state every month before the campaign picks up when he is expected to address rallies and attend more events.
In May, he had launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana from Uttar Pradesh's Ballia under which cooking gas would be provided to poor families in the country.
During his July visit, he laid the foundation stones for an AIIMS and a fertilizer plant in Gorakhpur.
