'Where Poverty Forces One To...': Day After Ayodhya Sets 'Diya' Record, Akhilesh Shares Video Showing Flip Side Of Deepotsav

The video was from the banks of the Saryu River in Ayodhya, where 22 lakh 'diyas' were illuminated on Saturday.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav ( Image Source :PTI )

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday shared a video on his official X handle showing a few children taking out oil from the earthen lamps at a ghat and filling it in utensils.

The video was from the banks of the Saryu River in Ayodhya, where 22 lakh 'diyas' were illuminated on Saturday.

In a post on platform X, Yadav said, "Poverty amid divinity...where poverty forces one to take oil from lamps, the light of celebration becomes dim. Our only wish is that there should also be such a festival in which not only ghats, but every house of the poor gets illuminated."

दिव्यता के बीच दरिद्रता… जहाँ ग़रीबी दीयों से तेल ले जाने के लिए मजबूर करे, वहाँ उत्सव का प्रकाश धुंधला हो जाता है।

हमारी तो यही कामना है कि एक ऐसा पर्व भी आये, जिसमें सिर्फ़ घाट नहीं, हर ग़रीब का घर भी जगमगाए। pic.twitter.com/hNS8w9z96B

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) November 11, 2023

On the seventh edition of the Deepotsav on Saturday, more than 22 lakh earthen lamps were lit on the banks of the Saryu river in Ayodhya.

On Sunday, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati in a post on X greeted the public on Diwali.

"Hearty congratulations to all Indian brothers and sisters and their families living in the country and across the world on the occasion of Deepavali as well as Bhaiya Dooj, and many best wishes to all for a happy and prosperous life," she wrote.

देश एवं दुनिया भर में रहने वाले समस्त भारतीय भाई-बहनों व उनके परिवार वालों को दीपावली पर्व के साथ-साथ भैयादूज की हार्दिक बधाई तथा लोगों की ज़िन्दगी ख़ुश और ख़ुशहाल हो इसकी सभी को ढेरों शुभकामनायें।

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) November 12, 2023

The 22.23 lakh earthen lamps – 6.47 lakh more than last year - were lit by 25,000 volunteers at the 51 ghats of Ram Ki Paidi along the river.

Ayodhya reverberated with chants of 'Jai Shri Ram' after the representatives of the Guinness Book of World Records counted the lamps using drones and registered it as a world record.