Assembly Speaker Mahana describes Yogi Adityanath and UP lawmakers’ prayer at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya as a “moving moment.”

On Sunday, UP MPs visited the recently built Ram Temple in Ayodhya under the direction of Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana. At the sanctum sanitarium, where the idol of Ram Lalla is kept, CM Yogi Adityanath, Deputy CMs KP Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, as well as members of the UP Assembly and Legislative Council, said prayers.

Up to eight busses left Lucknow as they were pelted with flower petals and cheers of “Jai Shri Ram.”

Satish Mahana claimed to have seen the location before it was destroyed and to now feel blessed to have had a firsthand encounter with God. “I am quite sad since here was the location of a building that was destroyed in front of us on December 6 when I first arrived here. In 1990, I had arrived here just before a gunshot was fired. I arrived here while the platform was being built. And I’m lucky to have had the opportunity to see God up close today,” he said.

The assembly includes members of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). However, the Samajwadi Party declined Mahana’s offer, saying instead that they would make their own plans and visit the Ram Temple at a later time.

Petal showers were seen on the buses transporting MLAs and MLCs to Ayodhya. Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, will take a plane from Pune to the temple city.

In response to the invitation, Akhilesh Yadav, the head of the Samajwadi Party, said unequivocally that he would not accompany the Mahana-led convoy to the Ram Temple, but rather, he would attend when Ram Lalla calls. “I refuse your offer to go to Ayodhya. When Ram Lalla calls, I’ll go. I’ll do Shiv Aradhana first, and then my whole family and I will go to Ayodhya,” he said.

Yadav has received a lot of criticism for declining the offer, particularly from the leaders of the governing party. UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya responded to the news by calling those who do not follow Lord Rama worthless. News 18 cited Maurya as adding, “Joh Ram Ka Nahin, Woh Kisi Ka Nahin…these are the people who had ordered opening fire on Ram bhakts in 1990.”

Following a series of ceremonies that started on January 16, the idol’s pran pratishtha ceremony took place on January 22 at the Ram temple in Ayodhya. The statue was placed inside the sanctum sanatorium, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi said prayers.