Yogi Adityanath unveils 7-ft Ram statue in Ayodhya

New Delhi/Lucknow: Religion continued to dominate Uttar Pradesh politics with the chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday unveiling a seven foot rosewood statue of Lord Ram at the Shodh Sansthan museum in Ayodhya. The statue, made from a single block of rosewood, depicts Kodand Ram — one of the five forms of Lord Ram.  The state’s government bought the wooden statue from Karnataka State Arts and Crafts Emporium.

The chief minister also took part in celebrations to mark the birthday of Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas chief Mahant Nritya Gopal Das.

The UP chief minister also released a special cover on the Kodand statue of Lord Ram by the Postal department, ‘Archaeological Report of Ayodhya’, ‘Ramleela journey of the Carribean countries’ and two other books. At the event the UP chief minister thanked the saints and seers for blessing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for BJP led NDA’s thumping victory in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

“The people of India rejected the negativity in politics. If the country is safe then the religion is safe...We should all have a same goal, that should be the goal of nationalism. Our wish is to build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya,” said the chief minister.

Meanwhile, renewing its efforts on the Ram Mandir issue, the Sangh Parivar’s affiliate, Vishwa Hindu  Parishad (VHP)’s ‘Margdarshak Mandal’ is meeting in Haridwar for two day from June 19 and will submit its memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Interestingly, BJP ally Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is visiting the Ayodhya on June 16, along with all of his party’s  MPs, to mount pressure for construction of the Ram Mandir. Mr Thackeray had visited Ayodhya in November last year also.       

In his address at another event, the BJP leader said the previous governments had maintained distance from Lord Rama and argued that the deity was important for country’s identity. He claimed the original copy of the Constitution included a picture of Lord Ram, in an apparent reference to one of the illustrations in an early manuscript.

The chief minister also visited galleries and released books and a postal cover at the Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan museum after unveiling the statue. He also presented the honour to sculptors, painters and writers at the museum and admitted a document titled ‘World tours of Lord Ram’ by Jitendra Kumar, principal secretary of the Culture Department.

During his visit, the chief minister also inspected developmental work in Ayodhya and also visited Ram ki Paidi, enquired about the under-construction prayer place there, inspected the construction work at Ayodhya bus station and the beautification work of Guptar Ghat.