Culture2 min
Ayodhya Deepotsav: Vice President Radhakrishnan Lauds UP Tourism After 30 Lakh Lamps Light
At the 10th Deepotsav, the Vice President joined a ceremonial rajtilak of Lord Ram and said he had never seen a government body stage such a well-run event.
Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan called the 10th Ayodhya Deepotsav a "tremendous" event and gave a public shout-out to the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department, as more than 30 lakh diyas glowed along the Saryu riverfront at Ram Ki Paidi.
Before the lamps were lit, Radhakrishnan took part in a ceremonial 'rajtilak' of Lord Ram at Ram Katha Park, with Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath present. He applied the coronation mark to the deity, then performed the ritual for Sita, Lakshman, Bharat and Guru Vashistha. Prayers and aarti followed.
The ceremony echoes the story at the heart of the festival. According to the Ramayana, Ayodhya's people lit lamps to welcome Ram home after 14 years in exile, and he was then crowned.
As chief guest, the Vice President also performed aarti on the Saryu banks with the chief minister and watched the show at Ram Ki Paidi. Over 70 lakh lamps were lit across the wider Ayodhya region.
In his speech, Radhakrishnan said that in more than four decades of public life he had not seen such a well-organised programme from a government organisation. He asked the audience to give UP Tourism a big hand.
He also traced how far the festival has come. The first edition in 2017 lit more than 1.7 lakh lamps. By 2025 the count had passed 26 lakh, earning a Guinness World Record. This year's numbers climbed higher still.
The show had other crowd-pullers too. Radhakrishnan singled out a drone display of more than 2,100 indigenous drones that painted scenes from the Ramayana across the night sky. Around 1,000 artists, including local performers, took part in the cultural programmes.
Read the original report: ThePrint.
FiledYogi AdityanathAkhilesh YadavNarendra ModiUnited StatesUttar PradeshCongress
