Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath on Sunday offered waters from the Ganga and Afghanistan's Kabul river at the site where a temple of lord Ram is being constructed in Ayodhya.
Adityanath said that the girl from Kabul who has sent this water has displayed an exemplary gesture of devotion.
"A girl from Afghanistan capital Kabul had sent water of the Kabul river to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for offering it at the spot where the massive temple of lord Ram is being built," the chief minister said.
According to the CM, it had been decided that waters of pious rivers from across the world would be offered at the temple construction site.
Honouring the sentiments of the girl, who sent the water despite the situation in Afghanistan following the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban, "I have come to Ayodhya to offer the water of the Kabul river and the Ganga at the 'nirman sthal' (construction site) of the Ram temple", he said.
The chief minister said that she sent the water as part of her rich religious feeling attached with the temple in Ayodhya.
Earlier, talking to reporters in Lucknow, Adityanath hailed the gesture of the girl.
Following the interaction, he flew to Ayodhya in a helicopter to offer the water of the Kabul river along with that of the Ganga at the Ram Janambhoomi temple site.
The gesture becomes all the more important because with the ascendency of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan, freedom of women has been curtailed and "in such a situation the gesture of the girl of sending the water for offering at the Ram temple deserves praise", the chief minister said.
The Ayodhya temple has an international appeal and people from different faiths have expressed their sentiments in different countries in its favour, he said.
Adityanath has already said that 12 lakh "diyas" (earthern lamps) collected from all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh would be lit in Ayodhya as part of Diwali.
(With PTI Inputs)
