Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Saturday said the warm welcome that Prime Minister Narendra Modi received from the people here was a preview of the "new Ayodhya of a new India".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited a festooned and festive Ayodhya on Saturday to unveil a 'new look old' city with an airport, a revamped train station and projects worth Rs 15,700 crore ahead of the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple next month.

Addressing a public meeting in Ayodhya, Adityanath said, "The 500-year wait is about to end. The prime minister had a dream of establishing Ayodhya as the most beautiful city in the world before the arrival of the Lord." He said Lord Ram will be seated in His grand temple by Prime Minister Modi on January 22.

"The grandeur with which the people of Ayodhya have welcomed the prime minister is a glimpse of the new Ayodhya of the new India," the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.

Referring to the projects unveiled by the prime minister in Ayodhya, Adityanath said, "Lord Ram would have come to Ayodhya by Pushpak Viman in the Tretaa Yug. Today the prime minister inaugurated and gifted the international airport to the people of Ayodhya." "This is the same Ayodhya, where people used to hesitate even in taking its name, let alone coming here. Modiji holds the record of being the prime minister who visited Ayodhya the maximum number of times," he said.

Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the Maharshi Valmiki airport and the redeveloped Ayodhya railway station from where he flagged off two Amrit Bharat and six Vande Bharat trains, some virtually.

Expressing gratitude, Adityanath said the prime minister has named this international airport after "Trikaaldarshi' Maharishi Valmiki ji, who united this world with Lord Ram". He added that after January 22, "we have to make the country and the world get a new experience of 'Atithi Devo Bhava'." Governor Anandi Ben Patel, Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnav, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Gen V K Singh (retd), Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, state BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, state ministers Surya Pratap Shahi, Jitin Prasad, Dayashankar Singh, Jaiveer Singh and others were present at the rally.

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