Click to play videoBhopal: In an answer from the ruling state BJP government to those behind the controversial Ram Setu affidavit, troupes from eight different countries will be participating in a nine-day long festival that will stage the different forms of Ram Lila.
Troupes from Cambodia, Bali, Sri Lanka, Java, Thailand and Singapore have all arrived in Bhopal to enact the eternal battle between good and evil.
“Lord Rama is India. Without him India is nothing. Not just India, Ram Lila is staged in other parts of the world too. Therefore, we have organised this festival to tell the reality to those people who, through an affidavit, questioned the existence of Lord Rama,” Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan says.
In Cambodia, Rama is known as Pharash Ream and Ravana as Krong Reap. And Cambodians pay homage to their gods by playing music on wooden instruments.
Meanwhile, for the ruling BJP, turning their focus to Ram in an election year, is yet another attempt to consolidate its core strength.
"It is not just the BJP. Gandhiji also remembered Rama and introduced the concept of Ram Rajya," BJP President Rajnath Singh says.
The multi-cultural Ramayana is being staged in Ujjain, Gwalior and Bhopal.
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