Kashi Vishwanath corridor to feature in Uttar Pradesh’s Republic Day tableau

Lucknow/Varanasi: Uttar Pradesh’s tableau at the Republic Day parade will showcase the cultural revitalization of the Kashi Vishwanath corridor in Varanasi and the state’s one district, one product scheme

Updated on: Jan 23, 2022, 07:14:09 IST

By Pankaj Jaiswal, Sudhir Kumar, Hindustan Times, Lucknow/Varanasi

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Uttar Pradesh’s tableau at the Republic Day parade will showcase the cultural revitalization of the Kashi Vishwanath corridor in Varanasi and the state’s one district, one product scheme. Last year, UP’s tableau was on the Ram Temple being built in Ayodhya.

Varanasi: Crowd of devotees at Kashi Vishwanath temple on the first day of the New Year 2022, in Varanasi, Saturday, Jan. 2022. (PTI Photo) (PTI01_01_2022_000093B) (PTI)

“The UP tableau’s theme was approved by the tableau committee in New Delhi,” a state government official said on condition of anonymity. “This time it’s a dual theme – Kashi Vishwanath Corridor and ODOP. The tableau is being constructed in Delhi ahead of the Republic Day parade.”

ODOP is the state government’s flagship scheme to promote traditional, signature crafts and products specific to particular districts, such as brass work of Moradabad, woodcraft of Saharanpur and carpets of Bhadohi.

The Kashi Vishwanath corridor, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 13, has been redeveloped and beatified at a cost of over ₹700 crore. It comprises 24 buildings, including the Kashi Vishwanath temple complex, tourist facility centre, auditorium, cafeteria, virtual gallery, Vedic library, Kashi museum, communal kitchen, and seven gates.

Last year, the UP tableau featured the grandeur of the Ram temple being built in Ayodhya, the temple town’s culture and Ayodhya as a symbol of social and religious harmony. The tableau had showcased Ayodhya as a major religious tourism destination in India and featured a model of the temple, scenes from Ramayan and the new tradition of annual Deepotsav.

The proposed tableaux of the opposition-ruled states of West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Odisha have been rejected, sparking controversy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pankaj Jaiswal
Pankaj Jaiswal is Bureau Chief, Uttar Pradesh. He covers-analyses politics, and assists Hindustan Times reporters across the state. He has 30 years of experience in print media reporting. Based in Lucknow, he started his journalism career at a national English daily in Kanpur after graduating from Christ Church College. He joined Hindustan Times, Lucknow edition, as part of the launch team in 1997. He’s covered everything from rural distress to science, environment, wildlife, and crime. He has travelled extensively in Uttar Pradesh for rural, development, political, and election reporting. His continued interest in rural issues, rural distress, and development journalism has fetched him a handful of prestigious awards and fellowships. Pankaj is a photojournalist too. He clinched the Statesman Award for Rural Reporting—First Prize in 2009 and Third Prize in 2006—for exposing Bundelkhand’s devastating drought and distress: crop failures, farm suicides, migration, debt, and the injustice of meagre compensation cheques between Rs 10 and Rs 20 to farmers by the government from crop loss. He also has been awarded with Hindustan Times internal 'Journalist of the Month' citation over half a dozen times. His relentless reporting in Hindustan Times pulled the Bundelkhand crisis out of obscurity and forced it into the national spotlight, prompting media and government action on one of India’s most neglected regions. Over a decade, he filed hundreds of hard-hitting stories, travelling repeatedly from Lucknow deep into Bundelkhand. He also received the Special Mention KC Kulish International Award 2009. Pankaj also did long-haul political reporting on the most intense political family feud—’The Yadav Family Feud’—between 2016 and 2022.Read More
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sudhir Kumar
Sudhir Kumar is a special correspondent in the Varanasi Bureau of Hindustan Times. He covers politics, local issues, social issues, folk culture, Sarnath, Ganga river, crime in and around Varanasi and tribals in Sonbhadra. Sudhir also covers nine districts around Varanasi. He has been working with Hindustan Since 2023. He has reported extensively on politics, elections-State as well as General elections, education, and issues related to boatmen and farmers.Read More