International Ramayan Conclave likely in Jan

LUCKNOW: Taking forward the centre’s proposal, the Yogi Adityanath government is likely to hold the ‘International Ramayan Conclave’ in Uttar Pradesh in January. The six-day event will be spread across locations in Lucknow, Ayodhya and Chitrakoot.

The central government had planned to organise the conclave in December 2016 in Ayodhya, before the UP assembly polls. However, the proposal was shelved and the event could not be held at the time.

Now, with the BJP in power in UP, the state government is expected to go ahead with the conclave, although the dates are still to be finalised.

Teams from Indonesia’s Bali province, Thailand, Myanmar, Surinam, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and other countries will participate in the mega event that will showcase the famous Ramlilas of India. These will include the oldest and grandest Ramlila of Ramnagar in Varanasi - the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi -, the famous Assamese Ramlila, and some of those performed in South India.

“Taking forward its objective of promoting religious tourism in the state, the Yogi government has decided to go ahead with the International Ramayana Conclave,” said an official of the tourism department.

“Religious tourism can be the state’s mainstay. But earlier (read during the regime of the previous govt), people (read officials) even avoided taking the name of Ayodhya, as it was considered communal,” chief minister Yogi Adityanath had said at a recent event organised by the tourism department.

To promote tourism in the state, the CM has also talked about connecting all tourist destinations with a helicopter service. Ten defunct airstrips are likely to be revived as part of that initiative. The state government also proposed tourism projects, especially religious, worth Rs 2,000 crore to the centre. The Ramayana, Krishna and Buddhist circuit projects are on the Yogi government’s priority list.