28 years after Shri Lal Krishna Advani led the famous Rath Yatra from Gujarat to Ayodhya that culminated with the demolition of Babri Masjid, the Ram Rajya Rath Yatra for Lord Rama is set to take the streets of India today; this time from Ayodhya. Some reports state that the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, will flag off the Yatra from Karsevakpuram in Lord Rama’s own city while others state that the Yatra will be flagged off by VHP Mahamantri Champat Rai and no government representative will participate in the Yatra. The Rath Yatra is organized by Sree Rama Dasa Mission Universal Society (SRDMUS) with support from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The flagging off ceremony is expected to be preceded by a meeting of Saints in Ayodhya.
The 41 day Rath Yatra covering around 6000 km will end at Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu after moving through six states. The Rath Yatra will move through Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra poll-bound Karnataka and Kerala before ending at Rameshwaram.
“After a night’s stay, the yatra will leave from Varanasi and from there to Prayag, Chitrakoot, Ujjain, Nasik, Badlapur, Bengaluru and end formally at Rameshwaram. The Rath will then be secured at Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) at the organisations national headquarter to be brought back to Ayodhya in 2019,” said Bheemsingh, general secretary of the SRDMUS’s Uttar Pradesh unit.
The agenda of the Yatra will be similar to that of its predecessor, a Bhavya Ram Mandir at Ram Janambhoomi and Ram Rajya and the inclusion of the Ramayana in school syllabus. The Ram Mandir case is currently ongoing at the Supreme Court with judgment expected to be delivered soon.