Context

Posting in Hindi on X, CM Yogi wrote: 'Samajwadi Party chaurasi kosi, chaudah kosi aur panchkosi parikrama ko rokti thi. Lekin, ab double engine ki BJP sarkar hai, yeh rokne walon ko tokti hai' — meaning, 'The Samajwadi Party used to stop the Chaurasi Kosi, Chaudah Kosi and Panchkosi Parikramas. But now there is the double-engine BJP government, and it checks those who try to stop them.' The post was accompanied by a video, which the Chief Minister's office shared alongside the statement.

The three parikramas — circumambulation pilgrimages of 84 kos, 14 kos and 5 kos respectively — are among the most revered annual rituals for devotees of Lord Ram in and around Ayodhya. They draw large numbers of pilgrims each year and carry deep religious significance in the Vaishnava tradition of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Policy Backdrop

During the Samajwadi Party government's tenure from 2012 to 2017 under Akhilesh Yadav, the BJP repeatedly alleged that restrictions were placed on certain Hindu processions and pilgrimages, citing law-and-order grounds. The BJP made the restoration of these religious traditions a central campaign promise ahead of the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

Since Yogi Adityanath took office in 2017, the state administration has systematically facilitated large-scale religious events in Ayodhya and expanded the Ramayana Circuit — a tourism and pilgrimage infrastructure project — particularly after the Supreme Court's 2019 verdict on the Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute cleared the path for the Ram Mandir construction. Permissions for the traditional parikramas have been granted without reported obstruction during this period.

The phrase 'double engine government' refers to the BJP's argument that having the same party in power at both the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh enables faster, more coordinated delivery on both development and cultural priorities.

Stakeholders and Impact

The statement directly concerns Hindu pilgrims — numbering in the lakhs annually — who undertake the parikramas, as well as residents and traders of Ayodhya whose livelihoods are tied to the pilgrimage economy. Smooth conduct of the parikramas has visible economic and civic consequences for the city.

For the Samajwadi Party, the charge revives a long-running political vulnerability on the question of religious sentiment in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP has consistently sought to frame its rival as hostile to majority Hindu practices. The SP has historically contested such characterisations, arguing its restrictions were administrative rather than communal.

What's Next

Political observers will watch whether CM Yogi's remarks precede any formal administrative announcement regarding the next scheduled cycle of the Chaurasi Kosi Parikrama — including logistics, route permissions and crowd-management plans — or whether the post is primarily a signal ahead of upcoming local or state-level political mobilisation in the Ayodhya region.

With Ayodhya remaining the most symbolically charged constituency in Uttar Pradesh politics, statements linking governance to religious access are likely to resonate well beyond the pilgrim community and into the broader electoral conversation in the state.