LUCKNOW: A day after the consecration of Ram Lalla, a huge rush of devotees, over 5 lakh, thronged the new temple on Ram Janmabhoomi premises and had a glimpse of the presiding deity as the temple gates were opened to the public in Ayodhya on Tuesday.
Many devotees, who have reached Ayodhya from across the country, remained on the streets the whole night and queued up in front of the main gate at Janmabhoomi Path even before the break of dawn.
However, the crowd, much bigger than expected, became unmanageable, leading to a stampede-like situation. This prompted UP CM Yogi Adityanath himself to rush to the temple and take to the public address system to appeal to the people asking them not to proceed to the temple and follow the norms spelled out by the district police administration.
By the evening, the situation had come under control, and devotees were entering the temple one-by-one in queue. In the meantime, many devotees got injured or fainted due to a strong push in the crowd. Three people, one each from Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Bihar, got fractures and were admitted to different hospitals for medical attention.
Taking cognizance of the fact that the number of devotees was swelling and becoming uncontrollable, CM Yogi rushed DGP (law and order) Prashant Kumar and Principal Secretary (Home) Sanjay Prasad to Ayodhya. Both the officers stayed put in the sanctum sanctorum to regulate the flow of devotees.
Later, the CM himself took the command and appealed to the people to have patience as arrangements were made for everyone to take darshan. He also held a high-level meeting on crowd management with the senior officials of the state police and district administration.
The state authorities later sealed the borders of Ayodhya to restrict the incoming rush from adjoining districts. An appeal was also issued by the police authorities to the people to postpone their plan for Ayodhya, at least for a few days. The entry of devotees, awaiting darshan of Ram Lalla, to the temple complex began at 6 am, with over three lakh having taken darshan till 3 p.m and an equal number in the queue.
Ram Path, the main thoroughfare, was choked as devotees flooded the streets of the temple town, gripped by religious fervour post-consecration. Waiting in serpentine queues outside the temple were people who had been camping in Ayodhya for the last many days.
On Tuesday, 'Ram dhun' played in the streets as around 8000-odd security personnel of central, paramilitary, and UP police kept on guard and sought to control the crowd charging towards the temple, chanting "Jai Shri Ram."
"There was a "sudden massive rush" in the morning, and the people were continuously streaming in, seeking to visit the temple for darshan of Ram Lalla,” said Divisional Commissioner Gaurav Dayal. He added that the administration was taking every measure to manage the crowd through proper holding, queuing, and barricading.
