Book excerpt: Yogi Adityanath was the second UP chief minister to offer prayers at the makeshift Ram temple

Yogi Adityanath

As chief minister, Yogi can now boast of accomplishing his responsibility to concretize the dreams of his guru (Mahant Avaidyanath), and his guru’s guru (Mahant Digvijaynath), by ensuring construction of the much-debated Ram temple at Ayodhya.

As if to prove that he was just as committed towards the cause of the Ram temple as his guru was, Yogi offered prayers at the

By offering prayers at the makeshift Ram temple, Adityanath became the second chief minister after Rajnath Singh to do so. As chief minister, Rajnath offered prayers at the makeshift shrine in 2002. No other BJP chief minister, including Kalyan Singh during whose tenure the Babri Masjid was razed, nor any of the non-BJP chief ministers—Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav—ever visited the disputed site.

The demolition of the structure proved catastrophic with communal riots engulfing large parts of the country leaving over 3,000 people dead. Simultaneously, it played a major role in shaping the political destiny of not only Uttar Pradesh but also that of the country.

On his maiden visit to Ayodhya as chief minister, Adityanath did not talk about the temple but announced Rs 350 crore grant for sprucing up the pilgrim city under his government’s PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation) scheme. Projects worth Rs 137 crore for the development of Ayodhya have been cleared by the state government. Amongst its notable decisions was to upgrade the Ayodhya civic body to a municipal corporation for fast-tracking the pilgrim town’s development.

A Ramayana circuit is planned at a cost of Rs 133 crores. The Ram Katha Park, an urban haat (market) and a Korean temple along the Saryu riverfront will be part of the Ramayana circuit, which will depict events from Ramcharitmanas—the epic poem on Ram by the bhakti poet Tulsidas. Ramleela (enacting the story of Ram’s life) is to be performed throughout the year.

All these Ayodhya-centric developmental activities are taking place at a time when many of Uttar Pradesh's cities like Lucknow, Kanpur and Prayagraj (Allahabad) are waiting to be smartened up.

Even before the temple row was resolved, the Adityanath government went all out to put Ayodhya on the tourist map more prominently than ever before. The showcase of his efforts was the special Diwali celebration with the lighting of nearly 2,00,000 diyas (earthern lamps) on 18 October 2017 in the ancient temple town.

Yogi Adityanath's idea was to portray the arrival of the legendary Lord Ram back in his kingdom of Ayodhya after a 14-year exile and the devastation of demon king Ravana and his Lanka. The government went to ludicrous lengths to re-enact the moment with one helicopter showering petals over the other chopper (a modern version of the mythological Pushpak Viman) carrying artistes playing Ram, Sita and Lakshman for Ramleela.

Excerpted from Yogi Adityanath: Religion, Politics and Power: The Untold Story by Sharat Pradhan and Atul Chandra, with permission from Penguin Random House.

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