Chouhan travels further down Ram Path, now a Ram ‘agenda’

Besides this an ‘International Ramayana Fair’ will be organised on the occasion of Ramanavami, when scholars from countries that have a rich collection of Ram fables will come to the state and share the same. Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Combodia, Bhutan and Nepal are among the countries whose scholars will get invites from the state Government.

A national training institute is planned in Satna district to revive the Ramlila and Rasleela. The Government believes these traditional forms of entertainment are fast disappearing from public memory.

‘Ramvan’, a place in Satna district where Ram is believed to have stayed, and Kamatgiri, another place associated with the epic, will be developed for their religious and tourist potential. Kamatgiri, especially, will be developed as a special zone.

Ramcharan Tirth in Vidisha district, which is visited by lakhs of pilgrims, has also been identified for turning it into a major draw for tourists.

If you are wondering why the Government chose Gandhi Jayanti to make the announcements, the answer perhaps lies in the BJP’s recent three-day national executive at Bhopal.

A resolution passed on the second day said Mahatma Gandhi often talked about ‘Ram Rajya’, an attempted dig at the Congress led-UPA in the wake of the ASI’s controversial affidavit in the Supreme Court that questioned the existence of Lord Rama. The affidavit was later withdrawn.

Soon after the controversy broke out, the Madhya Pradesh Government declared that it would give top priority to creation of ‘Ram Path’ — a project to link all the spots falling on the route that Ram took on his way to exile.

The Government has already instructed the state Archeaology Department to collect information from religious and other texts and also identify the spots physically.

At a mammoth rally held during the executive, Chouhan had proudly outlined the contours of the Ram Path. Since then he makes it a point to touch the project wherever he goes.