Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday left for Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya to pay a visit to the makeshift temple of Lord Ram in the afternoon followed by a prayer at the Sarayu River in the evening.
Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had said on Friday the chief minister’s visit was not a political one but was only to seek Lord Ram’s blessing after their government completed 100 days in power.
Raut had said Uddhav Thackeray will reach Lucknow airport around 11am and go to Ayodhya by road around 4.30pm. The Maharashtra chief minister is also expected to address the media before going to the temple.
“We had planned to have a grand aarti at the Saryu but due to coronavirus scare and the advisory from the Centre to reduce mass gatherings, we have decided to not have the aarti,” Raut had said.
Sena had planned a show of strength in the temple town with around 5000 people accompanying Thackeray for the aarti.
Raut refuted claims that Thackeray’s visit was an attempt by the Sena to keep its Hindutva agenda alive amid allegations of diluting its stand on the issue after joining hands with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress.
“We do not need to do these gimmicks for Hindutva,” Raut said.
The leader also hinted that the Sena could play an “active” part in the construction of the Ram temple. “The CM will speak about how we want to support the construction of Ram temple,” he said.
Uddhav Thackeray’s Ayodhya visit was announced in January to mark 100 days in office of the new Maharashtra government led by the Shiv Sena. The Sena chief was sworn-in as chief minister on November 28, 2019.
The announcement about Thackeray’s visit had led to political bickering with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing the chief minister of abandoning the Hindutva ideology.
His party had then hit back at the BJP and asked for the visit to be kept out of politics.
Thackeray had to put off his visit to Ayodhya in November last year after the historic Supreme Court judgement in favour of building a Ram temple in the town.
