Faizabad rechristened as Ayodhya, Yogi Adityanath says nobody can do injustice to Ram's birthplace

AYODHYA: If not temple, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Tuesday, met another long-pending demand of the saints, seers and people of Ayodhya by renaming district Faizabad as Ayodhya.

Now Faizabad will be known as Ayodhya after the name of the temple town which signifies the birthplace of Lord Ram. Coming close on the heels of renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj, the announcement to rename Faizabad was made by Yogi on Diwali eve during Deepotsav amidst loud cheers and spells of huge applause from around a 15,000 strong crowd in Ayodhya.

"Ayodhya is a symbol of our 'aan, baan aur shaan' (honour, pride and prestige)" he said in the pilgrim town, about 120 km from state capital Lucknow.

"Nobody can do injustice to Ayodhya," he said, adding that the holy city is identified by Lord Ram.

"Deepotsav is about starting a new tradition," Adityanath said at the event at Katha Park which was also attended by South Korean First Lady Kim Jung-sook.

Faizabad district comprises the twin towns of Faizabad and Ayodhya, which is a town area on the banks of the river Saryu. Notably, last year when the Yogi government had upgraded Faizabad municipal board to municipal corporation, it was rechristened Ayodhya Municipal Corporation.

However, much against the expectations of a major announcement either related to the Ram temple or a huge statue proposed to be installed in Ayodhya, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took many by surprise by suddenly and quite dramatically changing the Ayodhya narrative and pegging it at ‘development in the name of Lord Ram’.

The CM made two more key announcements in the temple town besides renaming district Faizabad as Ayodhya for Lord Ram. He also announced an airport in Ayodhya to be known as Raja Ram airport and a medical college in the district named after Lord Ram’s father king Dashrath amidst the chants of ‘Mandir ka nirman karo (build the temple).’

(With inputs from PTI)