After Ram temple in Ayodhya, Kashi, Mathura appear to be waking up: Yogi Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh CM’s remarks came amid legal proceedings over the temple-mosque disputes in Mathura and Varanasi

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, right, with Deputy Chief Ministers Brajesh Pathak and K.P. Maurya, centre, during BJP State Working Committee meeting in Lucknow on Sunday. | Photo Credit: PTI

After the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the temple towns of Kashi, Mathura, Vrindavan, Vindhyavasini Dham, and Naimish Dham appear to be waking up, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday.

At the BJP’s one-day state executive meeting here, Mr. Adityanath said one lakh devotees visit Kashi every day and the place is proving the significance of its name in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision.

Referring to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor, he said, “After the beginning of the construction of the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya, the waking up (angdai) of Kashi is before us. All pilgrimages centres like Mathura Vrindavan, Vindhyavasini Dham, and Naimish Dham are once again waking up (angdai li). In this situation we all have to move forward once again,” the Chief Minister said.

His remarks came amid legal proceedings over the temple-mosque disputes in Mathura and Varanasi.

He said there had been no communal riot in the State, adding that for the first time in the State, the namaz on the last Friday before Eid was not held on roads.

“Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti were held peacefully. This was the first time that the last Friday namaz before Eid was not held on the streets. For namaz there is a place of worship, the mosques where their religious programmes can be held,” he said.

Mentioning the removal of loudspeakers from religious places, he said, “You must have seen how the unnecessary noise was got rid of.” At the first State executive meeting of the BJP after the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, he asked the party workers to start preparing for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Mr. Adityanath said, “We have to prepare the ground for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from now only. We should move ahead with the target of winning 75 seats [out of 80 seats].”

Mr. Adityanath said the perception about the State changed after 2017 while asserting that Uttar Pradesh is leading the country in over four dozen schemes.

He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India is moving ahead to become a new India, and the new Uttar Pradesh of the new India is also ready.

He also asserted that the people of the State have rejected “all the conspiracies of the Opposition”.