Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, attended Yuva Kumbh, a two day event, held on the 22nd and 23rd of December, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
At the event, Yogi Adityanath spoke about the Ram Mandir construction issue, the most commonly referred to matter ahead of the Lok Sabha elections of 2019.
Mr. Adityanath said, “Ram Mandir ka nirmaan agar koi karega to wo hum hi karenge….koi dusra nahi karega (only we can construct the Ram temple. No one else.)” In addition, he said, “Some people were speaking about Ram Janmabhoomi… they were saying that they will only vote for the party that will build Ram temple. I want to assure you that whenever that happens and we’ll be the ones to do it, nobody else can do it.”
The Ram Mandir case is pending in the Supreme Court since a long time and is expected to be heard in January.
Speaking about India and its culture, Mr. Adityanath said, “India is a nation, and it has only one culture. The languages, castes, regions, eating habits, dialects may be different… From a political point of view there can be differences in India, but the country has only one culture, the ‘Hindu culture’. And, all of us should feel proud about it.”
Mr. Adityanath further announced the accessibility of Akshay Vat (Banyan Tree) and Saraswati Koop to the people during and after the Ardh Kumbh Mela. The Akshay Vat and the Saraswati Koop, two sites located on the banks of the Sangam river, are situated inside the Allahabad Qila. Both the sites were built 400 years ago by the Mughals and due to their location, were inaccessible to the public until now.
In addition to making both the sites accessible to the public, Mr. Adityanath also stated, the Uttar Pradesh Government will also install statues of Rishi Bharadwaj and Saraswati at the two sites.
The Uttar Pradesh Government organised the Yuva Kumbh ahead of the Ardh Kumbh Mela. The Ardh Kumbh is a grand mela scheduled to be held on the 15th of January till the 4th of March, 2019, at Triveni Sangam, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
