Faizabad to be called Ayodhya, airport in Lord Ram's name
On Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in yet another renaming move, announced that the district of Faizabad would henceforth be called Ayodhya. The announcement was made in the presence of a huge crowd in the city of Ayodhya, which lies in the Faizabad district. Adityanath also announced that a new airport in Ayodhya would be named after Lord Ram. Here's more.
Ayodhya hamari aan baan shaan ka prateek hai, Ayodhya ki pehchan Bhagwan Ram se hai. Aaj se is janpad(Faizabad) ka naam bhi Ayodhya hoga: UP CM Yogi Adityanath #Diwali pic.twitter.com/PNTSOHvM2v
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 6, 2018
In addition to renaming Faizabad and announcing a new airport, the UP Chief Minister also announced a new medical college, which would be named after Lord Ram's father, Dashratha. The announcements came ahead of the mega 'Deepotsav' festival in Ayodhya, which is also being attended by South Korean First Lady Kim-Jung Sook, who is on a four-day tour of India.
Yet, for all the renaming initiatives, which reek of the Sangh Parivar's Hindutva agenda, Adityanath remained mum on the controversial Ram Mandir issue, addressing it only through allusions. "We have come to assure you that no power can do injustice with Ayodhya. Every Indian knows what Ayodhya wants," said the Chief Minister to an animated audience which chanted, "mandir ka nirman karo".
Earlier, Yogi Adityanath renamed the city of Allahabad to Prayagraj to remove "Akbar ki nishani", despite loud criticism from the Opposition and scholars. The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has also renamed two railway stations - one called Farah near Agra, and the Mughalsarai Junction - after party ideologue Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.
