Shinde sees off party men headed for Ayodhya

MUMBAI: Supporters of chief minister Eknath Shinde are converging at Ayodhya in batches for a show of strength for their leader. On Friday, Shinde flagged off a train carrying over 1,200 supporters and Ram devotees from Thane.

Shinde will visit the Ram temple, accompanied by his ministers, MLAs, MPs and over 3,000 supporters on Sunday. He will leave for Lucknow on Saturday evening and on Sunday travel by helicopter to Ayodhya and visit the Ram temple for a maha aarti. He will also visit the construction site of the new Ram temple and seek blessings of religious leaders at Laxman killa and perform the aarti on the banks of Sarayu River. He will later meet the UP CM Yogi Adityanath at his official residence.

Ayodhya visits are not new to Shinde, who had earlier handled the logistics of the trip when Aaditya Thackeray visited the city in June 2022. Two weeks after the trip, Shinde had staged a revolt, which led to the vertical split in the Shiv Sena.

“More than 3,000 Rambhakts and sainiks have already departed for Ayodhya (between Thursday and Friday) for the darshan on Sunday. They displayed much enthusiasm, hence I came to see them off. Ayodhya is a sentimental topic for us,” Shinde told mediapersons in Thane, emphasising that the teakwood for the Ram temple was sent from Maharashtra.

“We were scheduled to visit Ayodhya earlier, but some of my associates were not available at the time. We then considered going after the Election Commission granted the bow and arrow symbol to us. We will perform the aarti at Saryu River, and also visit the site where Ram Lalla’s temple is being constructed,” Shinde had said earlier.

He said Ram was not a “matter of politics”. “It was Balasaheb Thackeray’s dream to see a grand Ram temple, and PM Modi is now completing it,” he had said earlier, while announcing his Ayodhya yatra.

Shinde spoke of an “emotional bond” with the holy city especially when “kar seva was being performed, my mentor late Anant Dighe had sent silver bricks to Ayodhya”.