'Ayodhya Parv' in Delhi next month

With the Ram temple issue at the political centre stage, BJP MP from Faizabad Lallu Singh is organising a three-day "Ayodhya Parv" in the national capital next month with seers associated with the temple movement.

Faizabad was recently renamed Ayodhya by the Uttar Pradesh government.

Senior BJP leader and Union minister Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate an exhibition on January 4, the event's inaugural day, and several other top party leaders are expected to attend the "Ayodhya Parv", Singh said.

The festival's purpose, he said, is to inform people about the religious and cultural facets of the holy town and how it should develop in the future.

Singh claimed that it has no direct link with the ongoing demand by Hindutva groups to bring a law to construct the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

"People currently know of Ayodhya in a limited way. We want to introduce them its broader cultural and religious significance," the BJP MP told PTI.

Mahant Nritya Gopal ji Das, Avdheshanand Giri ji Mahara, two seers linked to the temple movement, will also attend the event.

Singh said several exhibitions will be showcased in the festival to highlight numerous other religious sites in Ayodhya, where Lord Ram is believed to have been born, and the "84 kosi parikrama" around it.

Pilgrims undertake the "84 kosi parikrama", a region which is believed to cover the entire spread of ancient Ayodhya town.

The central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the UP government headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have undertaken a number of development projects in the town, Singh said, adding that those will also be publicised during the festival.

"It will offer people a look into Ayodhya's past, present and future," the Faizabad MP said.