Preparations ahead of the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony, in Ayodhya on Sunday
A vibrantly lit Ayodhyadham, its buildings, highways, and streets decorated with marigold flowers, troupes dancing on stages erected on two sides of the four-lane Ram Path, and loudspeakers installed on streetlights across the temple town blaring bhajans have set the stage for the pran pratishtha, or consecration ceremony, of the Ram Mandir on Monday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the rituals on Monday, following which the shrine will be opened for the public a day later.
About 7,000 people are in the long list of invitees for the ceremony. Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, business tycoons Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, and sporting icons Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli are among the VVIPs invited for the event. While many are expected to fly in their jets Monday morning, some cinema personalities had already arrived at the temple town on Sunday.
As the Uttar Pradesh government poured enormous resources of men and materials to make the event a success, some of the more emotional devotees, who have thronged Ayodhya from across the country to witness the ceremony of a long-cherished dream, felt the atmosphere had transported them to Treta Yug, to the day when Lord Ram returned to reclaim his kingdom.
The locals were besotted with the promise of a ‘New Ayodhya’, the rapid development that the tier II city of an estimated 3 million people has witnessed since 2022.
Most of the Opposition leaders have decided to stay away from the afternoon ceremony and the subsequent speech by PM Modi, which could have him detail, with an eye on the Lok Sabha polls less than two months away, the contribution of his government in delivering upon on one of the Sangh Parivar’s core agenda.
The medians of the roads have Lord Ram cutouts, while either of the two sides have vast hoardings of Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, detailing the ~31,000 crore of development work, the ‘Modi guarantees’ or announcing the consecration ceremony. Only the Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust hoardings, few and far between, acknowledge the contribution of Mahant Avaidyanath, Ramachandra Paramhans and others. The Maharashtra government has put up some hoardings with Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, acknowledging the support the movement received from Bal Thackeray. The hoardings also hide the centuries-old dilapidated buildings of the ‘old’ Ayodhya.
The Sangh Parivar has tried to balance the social equations. It announced on Saturday that 15 couples from other backward classes (OBCs), tribals, Sikhs, and others, including Varanasi’s Dom Raja, will also be the yajaman at the ceremony along with Modi, Adityanath, and others. “It is a festival of Hindu unity, a national festival,” Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) All India Prachar Pramukh Sunil Ambekar told Business Standard.
In his last Cabinet meeting, the Adityanath government adopted the state’s superconductor policy for 2024, increased the sugarcane support price as a “gift” on the occasion of the consecration ceremony and approved new private educational institutions to send a message that it was ushering in development while ascribing to tradition. “Vikas bhi virasat bhi,” states a hoarding with the PM’s cutout outside the expansive media centre near the Ram Katha Park. The roads are also dotted with statues of characters from Ramayana — of Ahilya, Shabari, and others.
The local administration has reached out to Muslims in the town to allay their fears of any untoward incidents. On Muslim religious organisations writing to the state police expressing apprehension of law and order problems in view of a large number of outsiders coming to the city, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) chief Alok Kumar indicated the minority, which constitutes 14.5 per cent of the district, had nothing to fear, and were benefitting from the all-round development.
“This is not new but from the days of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Muslims of Ayodhya are people of Shri Ram, as nearly all of them are associated with the temples here and earn their livelihoods by making clothes, jewellery, and other items needed to worship Lord Ram. There is no conflict here,” he said.
Shopkeepers have witnessed increased sales, such as florists, several of whom are Muslims, one of whom admits that he and his family were a tad nervous, but mostly because of the influx of outsiders in the last few days. Men on motorcycles chanting Jai Sri Ram slogans are a frequent sight.
Sanjay Gupta, owner of Kirti Bakers at Ram ki Paidi, says he has taken to stock products, such as a brand of premium wafers or energy drinks, a hit among sadhus and young men alike, which had minimal demand earlier. “The class of tourists coming to Ayodhya has changed since 2022-23. If earlier I would stock confectionery, such as cream rolls and pastries, that I would sell for ~5 or ~10, now I get better quality ‘puddings’ and confectionaries that cost twice as much,” he said.
Spanking new refrigerators from beverage companies could be found in several shops, as are display notices from banks that they would soon be opening ATMs in the area. Signboards across the city are uniform as the colours and art on their shutters. Near Hanumangarhi, workers are busy painting the floor saffron while a khadi shop, offering rebate, does brisk business in yellow and saffron-coloured shawls, jackets, and shirts.
Some shopkeepers have suffered because of the widening of roads and construction activity, but say they await the compensation that has been promised. The two dozen hotels have done brisk business. The government has set up ‘tent cities’, which can accommodate 8,000 pilgrims, and food for nearly 2,000 is prepared every day. Multistory parking complexes, electronic buses, and golf carts to transport pilgrims are also either complete or in the works.
“As a local I am amazed at the development that has taken place in the last couple of years. It is like a dream. As is with every dream, one is afraid that it might end. Hopefully, this one won’t. But the administration needs to plan for the future so that the development is sustainable,” says Shailendra Kumar, a professor at the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University.
