Buses transporting UP lawmakers depart for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, showering them with flower petals; SP MLAs are not there

Following the announcement a few days ago by Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana that he would be escorting the MLAs to pay respects at the recently built Ram Temple, buses transporting the legislators of Uttar Pradesh have departed for Ayodhya.

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.