Delhi BJP chief flags off train carrying pilgrims to Ayodhya

He said that he had prayed to the deity to make him capable of sending more and more people on a pilgrimage to Ayodhya.

Days after the AAP government sent pilgrims to Ayodhya under its free pilgrimage scheme, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta on Sunday flagged off a train carrying 200 devotees to the birthplace of Lord Rama.

Earlier this month, a batch of 1,000 senior citizens and their attendants were sent on a pilgrimage to Ayodhya by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal under the ‘Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana’. The next train for Ayodhya will be flagged off after mid-December.

Amid chants of ‘Jai Shree Ram’, Gupta flagged off the train to Ayodhya carrying women pilgrims from different parts of the city from the Old Delhi Railway Station.

''These women will be there for four days and the BJP will organise such pilgrimages in the future as well,'' Gupta said.

The Delhi BJP chief said every Indian has contributed in some way or the other towards the construction of the temple at Ayodhya.

“A grand temple of Lord Rama is coming up at Ayodhya thanks to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is a matter of great pride for us that not only did we win the battle for Ram Mandir construction but are also witness to the grand temple coming up in Ayodhya,” he said.

Gupta was accompanied by several leaders of the party, including state Mahila Morcha president Yogita Singh.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in power in Delhi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules the three municipal corporations in the city, have been trying to outsmart each other ahead of the civic body polls due early next year.

While campaigning in poll-bound Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Uttar Pradesh, Kejriwal, who is also the national convener of the AAP, has promised to send people of the states on free pilgrimages if his party is voted to power there.

Kejriwal had visited Ayodhya in October and paid obeisance at the makeshift temple of 'Ram Lalla'. He said that he had prayed to the deity to make him capable of sending “more and more people” on a pilgrimage to Ayodhya.