PM Modi to kill the 'Ravana' of Terrorism in Lucknow this Dussehra

Report By Arnima Dwivedi

Lucknow: While the country is mourning over the deaths of the army soldiers and all hopes are attached to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the PM himself has decided to kill the evil of ‘Terrorism’.

The Aishbagh Ramleela in Lucknow, where the PM is scheduled to visit on the occasion of Dussehra on October 11, will burn the Ravana based on the theme of Terrorism. The Ramleela authorities stated that this year the Ravana is made on the theme of Terrorism as it is the major problem that the nation is dealing with, these days. Aditya Dwivedi, member of the organising committee said, “Every year we make the statue of Ravana based on the evils of the society and hope to end that particular evil while putting the statue to fire.” He said that this year the Ramleela committee has chosen to put the terrorism themed statue of the demon king on fire.

“We had earlier made the Ravana on the themes of women harassment, poverty and other social evils and had prayed to God that the society gets rid of it,” he said.

Modi, however, would not perform the act of putting the statue on fire. “We would follow the tradition and the Ravana would be killed by the Ram only. The characters performing the roles of Ram, Lakshman and Sita are considered as the God during the Ramleela days and have to perform all the religious rituals. According to the tradition only Ram can kill the Ravana,” stated Dwivedi.

The world follows where Modi goes:

• While PM Modi remains in news for touring different nations, it has now been proved that the world also follows his footsteps. Though the Dussehra celebration of Lucknow’s Aishbagh Ramleela is popular nationwide, the news of PM’s presence has made it the topic of discussion in the whole world.
• For the first time in the history of the city a troup from Thailand has decided to take part in the celebration of the auspicious festival.
• The troup, however, will be the part of the ‘Rath Yatra’ that would be carried out the next day of the Dussehra. The Ramleela would be performed by the artists who have come from Kolkata and the city artists combined.
• “The Ramleela which was admired by the nation has become International now. This all would not have been possible with the hard work of our PM. He has made such image of the country that the world is talking about it,” he stated.

PM breaks the tradition:

• It may be mentioned that it is the first time that any Indian Prime Minster is visiting any other state of the country rather than Delhi for the celebration of this auspicious festival.
• It has been a tradition that the Prime Minister visits the Ramleela Maidan situated at the Ajmeri Gate in New Delhi. Narendra Modi broke the tradition by deciding to visit the capital city of UP for the occasion.
• Dr. Dinesh Sharma, the Mayor of Lucknow said that the Prime Minister has accepted the invitation of the UP BJP workers and decided to visit the city. “He is India’s Prime Minister and has the right to visit every state. We wanted to celebrate Dussehra with him and he being a generous person accepted our invitation,” Dr. Sharma stated.
• Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had earlier visited the ground on this occasion before he was elected as the Prime Minister.

A traditional Ramayan to be presented before the PM:

• The committee members have decided to present a simple and traditional Ramayan without any fillers. The event that includes different cultural programmes in between the show would not use any such fillers and would present a continuous traditional mythological tale in front the Prime Minister.
• “PM is a busy man. He has a very hectic schedule. We would try to end the programme as soon as possible,” said the committee official.
• The Prime Minister is scheduled to visit the ground at 0600 hours and would leave by 0730 hours from the place.
• The PM would also perform ‘Arti’ of the characters according to tradition and would witness the ‘Ravana Vadh’.

SPG team arrives in Lucknow:

• The Special Protection Group (SPG) headed by Yashwant Jethwa has arrived here to keep a check on the security arrangements at the ground in view of the Prime Minister’s visit.
• Inspector General of Lucknow Zone-A Satish Ganesh, Deputy Inspector General RKS Rathore, District Magistrate Satyendra Singh and Senior Superintendent of Police Manji Saini also visited the Ramleela ground along with other officials and police authorities to inspect the security arrangements.