Without making a reference to the construction of Ram Mandir, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced that Faizabad district would be renamed as Ayodhya while the new medical college would be named after Raja Dashrath. He also announced setting up of an airport in Ayodhya which would be named after Maryada Purshottam Ram.
When Yogi started his speech during Deepotsava, the air was pregnant with expectations that he might make an announcement about the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya because a day earlier he had said in Haridwar that he would make a big announcement in Ayodhya. People were also expecting him to say something about the construction of the proposed statue of Lord Rama which is expected to come up on the banks of Saryu river.
But Chief Minister preferred to stay away from making any contentious announcement. In his oblique reference to the aspirations of the people, he said: “I know what whole of Ayodhya wants. I want to assure you that no injustice will be done to Ayodhya.”
It is believed that when he talked about aspirations he meant the construction of Ram Temple because a delegation of sants met Chief Minister when he arrived at Ayodhya and had a closed door meeting. When Yogi started his speech, a sadhu came and gave a paper slip to him which people thought contained ‘what sadhus want CM to say’.
During the speech, people raised slogans demanding the construction of Ram temple immediately. “Yogi ek kaam karo, Ram Mandir ka nirman karo,” was the slogan raised by the crowd.
But Yogi preferred to toe a middle path asking people to listen to him.
In his about 20-minute speech, he declared that Faizabad district would be renamed as Ayodhya as “no one can compromise with the prestige of this place”. He also declared that the medical college, which is under construction, would be known as Raja Dashrath Medical College while the airport would be named after Lord Ram. The CM even said that Ram ki Pauri in Ayodhya would be developed as Har ki Pauri in Haridwar and no nullah would be allowed to directly throw its effluent into Saryu river He also talked about the government plan of underground cabling.
“When we talk about Lord Ram, one conjures up an image of ‘Ram rajya’. In the last four-and-a-half years, the Narendra Modi government has worked to bring ‘Ram rajya’. Policies have been launched under which 36-crore bank accounts of poor people have been opened in which over Rs 86,000 crore has been deposited. Under Ayushman Bharat scheme, poor are given free healthcare while they are also given free electric and gas connections. This is what a ‘Ram rajya’ where all people are getting benefits from the state,” he said. He added the Prime Minister had proposed a Ramayana circuit starting from Janakpuri to Sri Lanka to send a message that India was the embodiment of peace.
Earlier in the day, he inaugurated projects worth Rs 176 crore for twin cities of Ayodhya and Faizabad. Governor Ram Naik, Governor of Bihar Lalji Tandon and MoS External Affairs Gen (Retd) VK Singh also spoke on the occasion.
