PM Narendra Modi to attend Ayodhya 'Deepotsav'

NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend Ayodhya's 'Deepotsav' on the eve of Diwali on October 23. He is also likely to visit the under-construction temple site at the Ram Janmabhoomi and review the progress. The PM has a jam-packed festive season schedule that also includes back-to-back visits to poll-bound Gujarat and Uttarakhand.
On October 23, Modi will reach Ayodhya and perform puja at the Ram temple, followed by an inspection of the Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra site. He will also attend 'rajya-abhishek' (coronation) ceremony of Lord Ram, which is held in the holy city to celebrate his return after victory over Ravana.
PM will attend spectacular aarti at the new Saryu ghat
The PM will also witness the spectacular aarti at the new Saryu river ghat, followed by his participation in the grand 'Deepotsav' celebrations, government sources said.
This will be the first visit of the PM to Ayodhya after he laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Ram temple on August 5 in 2020. "His visits with a heightened Hindutva pitch are likely to have a cascading effect on poll-bound states like Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh," said a political observer.
The PM's visit holds significance as he will review the progress of the temple construction works. He is also likely to deliver a speech after overseeing the construction work.
Since Yogi Adityanath took over as UP chief minister, this will be the sixth consecutive year of grand 'Deepotsav' celebrations which is set to be bigger this year with a proposal to light over 18 lakh earthen lamps on the Saryu ghat in the holy city for a new Guinness record.
Before reaching Ayodhya, the PM will have a jam-packed schedule this festive season with back-to-back visits to Gujarat and Uttarakhand. "These visits would cover many sectors including defence, diplomacy, education, environment, spiritual heritage, sports, roads to ropeways, temple rejuvenation to tourism, from the lighthouse to LiFE, from infrastructure to industries, among others," the government sources said.
Modi will be on a two-day visit to poll-bound Gujarat on 19-20 October during which he will dedicate and lay the foundation stone of projects worth around Rs 15,670 crore. He will also inaugurate the DefExpo22 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar.
On the 20th, he will launch Mission LiFE. This will be followed by his participation in the 10th Heads of Missions Conference in Kevadia, after which he will lay the foundation stone of various development initiatives at Vyara. Early morning on 21st, the PM will be on another pilgrimage heading towards the spiritual destinations of Kedarnath and Badrinath, where he will lay the foundation stone of connectivity projects worth around Rs 3,500 crore.
He will perform darshan and pooja at Shri Kedarnath temple as well as at Shri Badrinath temple and review the progress of development works at the two shrines.
The PM has been a regular visitor to the two shrines and has been personally monitoring their works.
An MP from Varanasi (Kashi), Modi recently inaugurated the first phase of the Rs 850 crore Mahakaleshwar Temple Corridor Development Project in Ujjain and also visited Baba Vaudyanath Dham in Deoghar, Jharkhand.