LUCKNOW: Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a fervent appeal to 140 crore Indians to light ‘Ramjyoti’ at their houses and celebrate Diwali by lighting diyas so that the whole country glitters on the day of the consecration ceremony of the idol of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya on January 22. He also urged countrymen to avoid thronging the temple town on that day due to logistics and security reasons.
PM Modi was on a visit to Ayodhya to inaugurate the Maharishi Valmiki International Airport and the Ayodhya Dham Junction, the renovated railway station in the temple town, besides launching and laying the foundation of 46 developmental projects worth Rs 15,700 crore. He also flagged off two Amrit Bharat and six Vande Bharat trains on Saturday.
Calling upon Ram Bhakts to not do anything to disturb Lord Ram and attaching significance to consecration ceremony as a national occasion, the PM, while addressing a public rally in the temple town on Saturday, said: “We are fortunate that this historic moment has come into our lives. We have to fill ourselves with new energy for the country and I am requesting all 140 crore countrymen with folded hands from this sacred land of Lord Ram to light ‘Ramjyoti’ in your houses and celebrate Diwali on the evening of January 22. The entire country should glitter on that day.”
The preparations for the grand event had been going on for years and there should be no disruption, PM Modi said. "Don't crowd Ayodhya on January 22 as the temple will be there for centuries. The temple management should not have any trouble because of the devotees. First, allow the event (consecration) to take place smoothly and then after January 23, you can come any time for darshan. It is not possible for everyone to attend the event owing to logistics and security reasons. You have waited for over 550 years. Wait for some more time," added Modi.
The PM also urged the people of Ayodhya to make the temple town the cleanest in the country. “Ayodhya will now have to be prepared to host lakhs of visitors and their inflow will continue till eternity. The people of Ayodhya will have to take a pledge to make it the cleanest city in the country.” The PM also exhorted the people across the nation to launch a week-long cleanliness drive in all the big and small temples from January 14, the day of Makarsankranti to January 21.
“Welcome Lord Ram’s enthronement in his abode with a huge campaign of cleanliness at all the pilgrimages across the country from January 14-21,” he said. Earlier, the PM pitched for the preservation of spiritual and cultural heritage of the country as, he claimed, that the blend of ‘Vikas’ (development) and ‘Virasat’ (heritage) would keep India ahead of all others in the world and help the country reach the pinnacle of holistic growth in the days to come. “Today’s India is moving ahead by combining its heritage with modernity,” he said adding that the campaign of ‘Viksit Bharat’ was getting new energy from Ayodhya.
“In the days to come, the spiritual, divine and material growth of Ayodhya will not only give direction to UP but the entire nation,” said the PM.
Elaborating further on the blend of heritage and modernity, the PM said: “Today’s Ayodhya reflects the mood of the nation. Here is celebration of progress, after some days there will be festival of tradition, today we see grandeur of development, after some days we will feel the divinity of the heritage. This collective strength of development and heritage will take India forward in the 21st century.”
Referring to the ancient glory and opulence of Ayodhya in ‘Treta yug’ as described by Maharishi Valmiki, the PM expressed the desire to bring that grandeur back by linking it with modernity.
He pointed out that the projected increase in the number of pilgrims and tourists coming to the holy city in the wake of the grand temple would catapult the temple town into a hub of opportunities of employment and growth.