Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
A crowd of Ram devotees have gathered in Ayodhya to have the darshan of Ramlala. After the consecration on Monday, the first aarti of Ramlala took place the next morning. More than seven lakh devotees reached Ayodhya for the darshan of Ram Lala. It became difficult to handle such a huge crowd of devotees, all the arrangements fell short. Stampede-like situations occurred several times a day, so the doors of the temple had to be closed. Darshan and worship had to be stopped. When the deployment of more than eight thousand soldiers started falling short, senior officers of Uttar Pradesh Police reached Ayodhya. When Yogi Adityanath got the news that there was a large crowd of devotees in Ayodhya and some accident could happen, then Yogi himself reached Ayodhya within forty-five minutes without any delay, took charge, took stock of all the arrangements, held a meeting with the officers. , then appealed to the devotees to exercise restraint. After this the situation came under control but till afternoon the pictures coming from Ayodhya were really shocking. Neither the government, nor the administration, nor the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust had expected such a large number of devotees to arrive, but after Yogi’s appeal, people showed patience. The devotees of Ram said that they will not return without darshan, they will stay in Ram’s city and wait for their turn, even if it takes two-three days. But will return home only after having darshan.
Seeing this flood of faith, there is now panic among those leaders and those parties who were till now opposing the inauguration of Ram Lalla’s temple, who were calling the time of Ram Lalla’s consecration as inauspicious. Even before dawn on Tuesday, a crowd had started gathering outside the Ram temple complex. The administration stopped the devotees outside, it was extremely cold in the morning, there was fog, the temperature was less than seven degrees, but there was no decrease in the enthusiasm of the Ram devotees. Thousands of people were gazing towards the Ram temple waiting for their turn to have darshan. In this crowd of thousands, there were elders, women and youth too. People from Chennai, Nashik, Bhopal, Rameshwaram, Kolkata, Guwahati, Haridwar and many other cities of the country had come to visit. On Tuesday, more than seven lakh devotees visited Ramlala in Ayodhya. At all four entrances of the Ram temple, from Ramlala temple to Lata Chowk, only the heads of Ram devotees were visible. There was a flood of devotees on every road of Ayodhya, the traffic stopped, all the arrangements broke down, the police placed iron barricades on the roads.
The idol of the old idol of Ramlala is also installed just below the new idol of Ramlala in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. Aarti puja was performed according to the Ramnandi tradition of both the idols of Ramlala seated on the golden throne. Since after the consecration of the new idol of Ram Lalla, a new arrangement has been started for the worship aarti, hence a new forty-seven page worship method book has been issued. In this, all the rules of puja, bhog, prasad, aarti are explained. Yogi Adityanath had an idea that a large number of devotees would reach Ayodhya for the darshan of Ramlala. Two days ago, he had appealed to the people with folded hands not to come to Ayodhya city without informing them. Do not come on foot, come comfortably so that proper arrangements can be made for everyone’s darshan. But considering the kind of enthusiasm there is in the entire country about Lord Ram’s temple and the desire to have darshan of Ramlala, it is natural for such a large number of people to reach there. But the temple has just been built, the consecration took place only yesterday, all the arrangements in Ayodhya are new, hence even the administration has no idea where there are shortcomings, what else needs to be done and it is expected that lakhs of devotees will reach there simultaneously. The officers did not. Therefore, all kinds of difficulties arose on the first day. The devotees faced problems and so did the administration. But it is a big thing that after seeing the influx of Ram devotees and seeing the situation of stampede in Ram temple, Yogi Adityanath left all the work without any delay and reached Ayodhya himself. This is Yogi’s style which people like. (Rajat Sharma)
Watch: ‘Aaj Ki Baat, Rajat Sharma Sath’ full episode of January 23, 2023
Latest India News