A festival of lamps is quietly becoming a festival of nations. On Wednesday, 4 November 2026, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath declared that Ayodhya's Deepotsav has evolved into an extraordinary 'sांस्कृतिक रामसेतु' — a 'cultural Ram Setu' — bridging India with the world through the living tradition of Ramkatha.

In his post, CM Yogi described artists from Sri Lanka, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand and several other nations bringing the story of Ram to life in their own languages and traditions. His metaphor was precise: 'जैसे अनेक नदियां एक ही सागर में मिलती हैं' — 'just as many rivers meet the same ocean, the streams of different cultures converge in Ayodhya into a single essence of Ramness.'

From local lamp to global stage: what Deepotsav has become

Since the BJP government took office in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, the state has systematically repositioned Ayodhya — regarded as the birthplace of Lord Ram — as the centrepiece of a large-scale cultural project. Each edition of Deepotsav has layered traditional Ramkatha performances with modern technology, drawing international artists and generating mass participation from across the country. The scale and the multinational character of the festival are what distinguish it sharply from earlier state-backed events.

CM Yogi specifically credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'yashashvi margdarshan' — 'illustrious guidance' — and what he called the 'double-engine government' for giving Ayodhya's cultural identity new glory. The reference to double-engine is the BJP's standard formulation for aligned state and central governments working in concert.

The dig at Saifai — and the politics of cultural memory

Yogi did not let the celebratory moment pass without a pointed contrast. He wrote that those in power before 2017 confined their cultural imagination to the Saifai Mahotsav — a festival held in Etawah district historically associated with the Samajwadi Party — which he characterised as a showcase for 'family glory.' His formulation was blunt: 'उनके लिए परिवार ही प्रदेश था, हमारे लिए पूरा प्रदेश ही परिवार है' — 'For them, family was the state; for us, the entire state is family.'

The line is a compressed political argument: that the previous administration's cultural priorities were narrow and dynastic, while the present government's are expansive and civilisational. It frames the Deepotsav not merely as a religious celebration but as a rebuttal written in a hundred thousand diyas.

Technology, heritage, and the next generation

Yogi's post also flagged the role of modern technology — light projections, digital staging — in making the 'sांस्कृतिक sangam' more spectacular and in connecting younger generations to what he called India's 'gauravshali virasat', its glorious heritage. The convergence of ancient narrative and contemporary production values is a deliberate part of the Ayodhya cultural strategy, aimed at making the city's heritage legible and magnetic to audiences well beyond the devout.

He closed with the declaration that today's Deepotsav is not merely a festival of lamps but a confluence of the faith of crores of Ram devotees, modern technology, and India's Sanatan heritage — 'whose radiance is reaching the entire world.' Jai Jai Shri Ram.

When a city built around a 7,000-year-old epic starts drawing artists from four continents, something larger than a local festival is clearly under construction — and Lucknow is making sure the whole world notices.