Faizabad district to be renamed as Ayodhya: Yogi

Under pressure from the saint community on the issue of Ram Temple construction through a Parliamentary legislation, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday renamed Faizabad district as Ayodhya while announcing an airport after Lord Rama and a medical college after latter's father King Dasharatha but refrained from making any commitment on the contentious issue of Ram Temple.

Speaking at a function in the temple town of Ayodhya on the occasion of Diwali, Adityanath, in the presence of South Korea's first lady Kim Jong Suk and other guests from abroad, made no mention of the supreme court's decision to defer the hearing of the Title Suits to January next year nor did he speak about the much publicised decision about erecting a 150 ft tall statue of Lord Rama on the bank of the Saryu river.

The saffron-clad chief minister, however, said that Lord Rama was the symbol of India's age-old culture. ''Ayodhya is identified by Lord Rama,'' he said.

Adityanath, in an apparent bid to placate the restless saint community, announced to set up an airport in Ayodhya after Lord Rama. He also declared that a medical college would be established in the temple town, which was now a district, after King Dasharatha, Lord Rama's father.

The omission of any reference to Ram Temple construction in Adityanath's address, however, left many saints disappointed and they were heard saying that they had expected the chief minister to announce a date for the construction of the temple.

'We only want a Ram Temple....nothing else will satisfy us,'' said a senior Hindu seer in Ayodhya.

While the BJP leaders and saffron outfits hailed renaming Faizabad district as Ayodhya, the opposition parties termed it an ''eye wash'' and an attempt to deviate the attention of the people from the government's failures on the law and order front.

''It is the first step toward Ram Temple construction.....its a historic day for Ayodhya....the town will now be known in the entire world,'' UP BJP spokesman Shalabh Mani Tripathi said.

Samajwadi Party (SP), however, said that the BJP was now ''frustrated'' and only wanted to deviate the attention of the people from its failures on different fronts. ''BJP has nothing to show as its achievement at the centre as well as in the state,'' a senior SP leader said.