President Ram Nath Kovind offered prayers to Ram Lalla, visiting the site where a Ram temple is being constructed in Ayodhya. Ram Lalla temple priest Acharya Satyendra Das said the president stayed in the temple for almost 5 minutes.
"The visit of the president with his family members went quite well. They had the 'darshan' of the lord, they offered flowers and performed aarti. He is the first president who has come to the temple to have a glimpse of Ram Lalla," Das said.
He also told that the clothes that Ram Lalla wore were sent by Lucknow BJP chief, Late Pradeep Bhargava’s family. “My father wanted to send handmade clothes on the occasion and we fulfilled his wish,” said Apurva Bhargava.
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He also said, "We ensured that everything is properly sanitized before taking the clothes to Ayodhya. We would try to continue the ritual in the coming years."
The president was accompanied by his family members, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Union Minister of State for Railways and Textiles Darshana Vikram Jardosh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and his deputies Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma.
They also offered their prayers to Ram Lalla amid chanting of shlokas by priests at the makeshift temple.
A shawl and a miniature replica of the upcoming Ram temple were also presented to Kovind who interacted with the priests briefly and planted a sapling.
