SENIOR BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani, who is keen to reach Ayodhya on January 22 to witness the inauguration of the Ram Mandir, has recalled his 1990 rath yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya in Rashtradharma magazine, saying he was only the sarathi (charioteer) of the rath, and that destiny had decided that the temple would become a reality one day. The piece – Shri Ram Mandir: Divya Swapn Ki Poorti (Shri Ram temple: Fulfilment Of A Divine Dream) that Advani has penned on the Ram janmabhoomi movement — will be published on January 15 in the 76-year-old magazine. The special issue of Rashtradharma will be given to participants at the consecration ceremony of the idol in Ayodhya on January 22. “Days after the rath yatra started, I realised that I was only the charioteer. The real messenger of the yatra was the chariot itself. It was venerable, as it was going to Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram, for the noble purpose of the construction of a grand temple dedicated to Him,” Advani wrote in the article. The senior BJP leader also recalls that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was his associate in the yatra. “When PM Modi will consecrate the temple, he will represent each citizen of India. I hope that this temple will inspire Indians to imbibe the values of Lord Ram,” he says in the piece. Advani says that he did not know at that time that the yatra would become a huge movement. He adds that while Modi, who was with him, had not yet come to the fore, Lord Ram had chosen his bhakt for the inauguration of the temple. He congratulates Modi in the piece for bringing the temple to fruition and fulfilling the resolve. He says the yatra was the most transformative moment of his life. He saw how the mass support for it kept growing; how the slogans of “Jai Shri Ram'' and “Saugandh Ram ki khaate hain, mandir wahin banayenge (we swear by Lord Ram, we will build the temple there)” rent the air. “The rath yatra gave me some experiences that impacted me deeply. In interior villages, unknown rural folk would see the rath, get emotional and come to me. They would wish me, raise slogans dedicated to Lord Shri Ram and go away,” Advani writes. This, he says, convinced him that there were innumerable people who dreamt of a Ram temple at Ayodhya but had suppressed their emotions. On January 22, Advani adds, the suppressed dreams of countless villagers will become a reality. He says in the piece that he misses his long-time senior and associate Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away in 2018.
