Ayodhya is no longer just a pilgrimage destination — it is now being positioned as a model of modern urban India. At Deepotsav 2026, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath declared that Ayodhya has established itself as both a Smart City and a Solar City, with grand corridors already drawing visitors from across the country and the world.

Addressing the tenth edition of the festival on Saturday, 7 November 2026, CM Yogi said — 'Aaj Ayodhya desh ki Smart City ke saath-saath Solar City ke roop mein khud ko sthapit kar chuki hai' — 'Today, Ayodhya has established itself not just as a Smart City of the country, but as a Solar City as well.' He pointed to four landmark thoroughfares — Dharm Path, Bhakti Path, Shri Ram Path, and Janmabhoomi Path — as the spine of this transformation, drawing pilgrims and tourists from across the globe.

Four Corridors at the Heart of a Reinvented Ayodhya

The named pathways are not merely roads — they are the centrepiece of a sweeping beautification and connectivity drive that the Uttar Pradesh government has pursued alongside Ayodhya's religious resurgence. Dharm Path and Shri Ram Path have been widened and lined with heritage-themed streetscaping, while Bhakti Path and Janmabhoomi Path provide pilgrims direct, well-lit access to the Ram Janmabhoomi complex. The corridors now function as open-air gateways that frame the city's identity for first-time visitors arriving from every direction.

Smart City Mission Roots and Ayodhya's Renewable Push

Ayodhya's inclusion in the Central government's Smart Cities Mission — launched in 2015 — gave the city's redevelopment a formal policy framework, funding integrated technology infrastructure alongside urban design. The solar-city claim reflects the state government's parallel push to layer renewable-energy installations onto pilgrimage infrastructure, a pattern also visible at other Uttar Pradesh religious destinations. Together, the two tracks — digital-smart and solar-green — are designed to present Ayodhya as a 21st-century pilgrimage hub, not a heritage site frozen in time.

Deepotsav's Tenth Year and the Scale of Ambition

Deepotsav — the mass lamp-lighting festival held on the eve of Diwali — has grown from a state ceremony into one of India's most-watched annual spectacles under CM Yogi Adityanath, who has led the government since 2017. The 2026 edition, hashtagged #deepotsav1dasak (marking a decade), signals a milestone moment for the administration. Infrastructure and aesthetics — the corridors, the solar installations, the smart-city grid — are being deliberately showcased alongside the festivities as proof of a vision delivered.

Ayodhya's transformation is a live stress-test of whether India can marry mass religious tourism with 21st-century urban planning. So far, the corridors are lit. The question now is whether the solar grid holds — and how many more pilgrims the city can absorb.