All Roads Lead To Ram

The Ram temple can wait, but the UP government is pushing multiple projects to fast-track religious tensions in Ayodhya

- Ashish Misra

In dire neglect for years, Ramkatha Park on the banks of the Saryu river in Ayodhya began buzzing with activity a few days before Diwali. Everything, including all approach roads to the expansive public space opened by the Kalyan Singh-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in 1999, were getting spruced up. A day before Diwali, on October 18, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath joined Governor Ram Naik to perform a special aarti before a Ram-Sita tableau.

The occasion kick started an ambitious Union tourism ministry project being executed by the Yogi Adityanath government. Ramkatha Park is to be part of a new Rs 133 crore ‘Ramayan circuit’ that will include an urban haat and a Korean temple, all along the Saryu riverfront. According to Brijpal Singh, the regional tourism officer at Faizabad, the project will depict events described in the Ramayana. An imposing ‘Ram durbar’ to be constructed at the site of CM Yogi’s Diwali puja, will include a gallery depicting the story of Ram and a state-of-the-art digital museum. All to be in place before June 2019.