“When I told my neighbours in Kerala that I was going to Ayodhya, they asked me to bring a pouch of mud from there…it took us 60 hours by train, but we are so happy to be here” — a group of old friends from Kerala can’t contain their excitement while at the Ram Ki Paudi in Ayodhya, fresh from a bath in the Saryu before they head to the new Ram Temple.
The holy town of Ayodhya has become a confluence of people from across the country, especially Southern India, as over two lakh people continue to pour in daily to visit the Ram Temple. Some political opponents of the BJP have claimed a ‘north-south divide’ ahead of the 2024 general elections and said the BJP only has resonance in the northern part of the country. However, the devotional atmosphere at Ayodhya does not seem to have any such geographical divide.
“This was not a political problem, it is a historical problem and a sentimental issue. We are all Bharatiyas, we are finally allowed to have a temple here and we are here to experience that. For the last 100s of years, it was not our temple, it was a mosque. We have to find our identity, it is our temple, it is a Ram temple, it is a moment of Hindu realisation,” said R Unnithan, a member of the Kerala group. He said it was due to PM Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath that the temple exists.
Unnithan added that lots of temples were demolished by invaders. “All temples belonging to Hindus and India should be with Hindus and Indians. We are not making any problems, we want to pray to our God, and we will get that through the help of any national party which believes in Indian theology. Jai Sri Ram!” he told News18.
A 44-member group from Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu is equally excited to be at the Ram Temple; they come from the Sri Ayyappa Sangam. “We are all Indians and Hindus and devotees of Rama. We are a big group that believes in Sri Ayappan Temple back home and we are here to pray to Lord Bala Rama. It is because of Modi’s good job that Ayodhya has become important and we are coming from Tamil Nadu,” said Sridhar from this group. He praised the good arrangements and said they were proud of being in Ayodhya.
A young girl from Telangana, Revanthi, described the experience of coming to Ayodhya as magical, adding that her family had come from the land of Bhadrachalam (an important religious site which has a temple of Lord Ram) to his birthplace in Ayodhya. “We are so lucky to see Ram Lalla in his divine form here in Ayodhya…this visit has diminished the distance between the south and the north for us,” she said.
News18 also met an NRI family that took a trip from the USA to come to Ayodhya. “I feel I got lucky to get this opportunity, I never felt this proud to be a Hindu. We are here for Lord Ram. It is a big thing…a bunch of my friends thought we would never see this day. But thanks to the Modi government, it is a great moment that Lord Ram is out of a tent,” the NRI said. A family from Jharkhand said they belonged to Mithila and had a close connection with Lord Ram. “It is a moment of pride for us, people are coming from across the country,” they said.
A Maharashtrian family said the Ayodhya temple would help the BJP electorally in the 2024 elections and said it would transcend states. “People now believe Modi will also solve the Kashi and Mathura issues,” said a family from Bihar at one of the biggest tent cities in Ayodhya. “Earlier, only bloodshed happened in Ayodhya under previous governments, but today, due to Modi, Hindustan has become hindu-may. Modi hamara daba hua akrosh hai, hum kabse dabe-kuchle the (Modi became the expression for our hidden anger, we were subjected to pressure for so long),” the family from Bihar told News18.
In Ayodhya, the feeling of pride and glory of being a Hindu transcends geographical boundaries of states and castes.
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