The Delhi government will include the temple town of Ayodhya in its free pilgrimage scheme, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal promised on Tuesday after a visit to the Ram Janmabhoomi and Hanumangarhi temples.
“I was fortunate that I got the chance to bow before Ram Lalla, and I wish everyone must get this chance,” the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said. “Whatever capability I have, I will use that to make more and more people have darshan here.”
The Delhi government has the Chief Minister’s Teerth Yatra Yojana (chief minister’s pilgrimage scheme), under which city residents can travel to pilgrimage sites such as Vaishno Devi, Rameshwaram, Dwarka Puri, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mathura and Vrindavan free of cost.
“A special cabinet meeting of the Delhi government is scheduled on Wednesday,” Kejriwal said. “In this meeting, Ayodhya will be included in the list of free pilgrimage tour programmes.”
“I prayed to lord Ram for the prosperity of my country and for the Covid-19 pandemic to end,” the Delhi chief minister said.
“AAP opposed the Ram temple. Arvind Kejriwal had suggested a university instead of Ram Mandir at Ram Janmabhoomi,” Ved Prakash Gupta, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Ayodhya Sadar, said, reacting to the visit on Tuesday.
{{/usCountry}}“AAP opposed the Ram temple. Arvind Kejriwal had suggested a university instead of Ram Mandir at Ram Janmabhoomi,” Ved Prakash Gupta, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Ayodhya Sadar, said, reacting to the visit on Tuesday.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, as the Delhi chief minister’s cavalcade was passing through near the Amava Ram Mandir, some youth raised slogans in support of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
Kejriwal, whose party has decided to contest all 403 assembly seats in the 2022 UP polls, had offered aarti on the banks of the Saryu river on Monday, saying it was an honour to visit the birthplace of Lord Ram. The AAP leader was on a two-day visit to Ayodhya, which ended on Tuesday.
Some Hindu seers not aligned with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, led by Mahant Dharam Das, head of Nirvani Akhada, accompanied the Delhi CM on his visit to the Ayodhya temples.