From Chhattisgarh to Ram Lalla: A Journey of Faith That Has Fulfilled Thousands of Dreams-By-Kumar Bahukhandi (Editorial)

The Green Flag That Began a Journey of Faith: Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai flags off the first special train under the Shri Ramlala Darshan Yojana from Raipur railway station on March 5, 2024. Beginning with 850 pilgrims from Raipur division, the initiative has since enabled more than 50,000 people from Chhattisgarh to visit Ram Lalla in Ayodhya. On Wednesday, September 9, 2026, another 850 devotees left Bilaspur for a pilgrimage covering Ayodhya and Kashi. (File Photo)

What began with CM Vishnu Deo Sai personally flagging off the first train to Ayodhya has grown into a pilgrimage movement touching more than 50,000 lives; another 850 devotees left Bilaspur on Wednesday for Ayodhya and Kashi

Key Highlights

• CM Vishnu Deo Sai personally flagged off the first Shri Ramlala Darshan special train from Raipur on March 5, 2024, carrying 850 devotees.
• The programme subsequently carried pilgrims from different regions of Chhattisgarh to Ayodhya.
• More than 50,000 devotees had benefited by August 2026.
• Another 850 devotees from Bilaspur division left for Ayodhya on September 9, 2026.
• The latest pilgrimage also includes Kashi Vishwanath darshan in Varanasi.
• The organised pilgrimage includes coordinated arrangements involving the administration, Chhattisgarh Tourism Board and IRCTC.
• The larger significance of the scheme lies in enabling people who may otherwise find such a pilgrimage financially or logistically difficult to visit Ayodhya.

For some, a journey to Ayodhya is a matter of travel. For others, particularly elderly devotees who have spent decades hearing the story of Lord Ram and carrying a quiet desire to bow before Ram Lalla at least once in their lifetime, it can represent the fulfilment of a deeply personal dream.

That emotion was visible again on Wednesday when 850 devotees from districts across Bilaspur division boarded a special train from Bilaspur for Ayodhya Dham under the Chhattisgarh government’s Shri Ramlala Darshan Yojana.

There were families saying goodbye, devotees chanting “Jai Shri Ram”, and passengers preparing for a journey that would take them not only to the Ram temple in Ayodhya but also to Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi.

But Wednesday’s departure was also another chapter in a journey that began more than two years ago.

The First Green Flag — and the Beginning of a Larger Journey

On March 5, 2024, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai stood at Raipur railway station and personally waved the green flag to the first special train under the Shri Ramlala Darshan Yojana.

That inaugural 12-coach train carried 850 pilgrims from the five districts of Raipur division to Ayodhya. The State government’s official record confirms Sai personally flagged off the service from Platform No. 7.

It was more than the inauguration of another government scheme.

For hundreds of passengers sitting inside that train, the destination was a place they had known through faith long before they ever had an opportunity to see it.

A Personal Send-Off: Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai meets pilgrims inside a train compartment before their departure for Ayodhya under the Shri Ramlala Darshan Yojana, interacting with them and wishing them a safe, comfortable and spiritually fulfilling journey(File Photo )

Sai described the departure at the time as a significant occasion as people from Chhattisgarh began their journey to seek the blessings of Ram Lalla.

From there, the trains kept moving.

Different divisions and districts began sending groups of pilgrims. From Raipur to Surguja, Rajnandgaon and other parts of the State, the scheme gradually turned an administrative programme into a recurring journey of faith.

When 850 devotees from Surguja division left for Ayodhya in 2024, the State’s official account recorded pilgrims saying that a wish to visit Ayodhya was finally being fulfilled. The government package covered travel, accommodation, temple visits and meals, with tour escorts, security personnel and medical teams accompanying the pilgrims.

That detail explains much of the scheme’s significance.

For someone with sufficient money, mobility and experience, organising a pilgrimage may appear relatively straightforward. For an elderly person, a low-income household or someone living far from major transport connections, however, arranging railway reservations, accommodation, local transport, food and temple visits can turn a cherished wish into a journey repeatedly postponed.

The Shri Ramlala Darshan Yojana attempts to bridge precisely that distance.

From 850 Pilgrims to More Than 50,000

By August 2026, more than 50,000 devotees from Chhattisgarh had travelled for Ram Lalla darshan under the programme, according to reports based on State information.

The number gives scale to the programme, but numbers alone cannot fully describe what those journeys mean.

Behind every figure is a passenger.

An elderly devotee who had perhaps imagined Ayodhya for years. A rural family for whom the cost and complexity of an independently organised pilgrimage might have been prohibitive. Someone who had seen the Ram temple only on television. Someone who may have wondered whether age would allow the journey at all.

That is where the programme acquires a dimension beyond conventional tourism.

It becomes about access to faith.

Sai’s Personal Association With the Journey

The Chief Minister’s association with the pilgrimage has not remained confined to policy announcements.

Sai was present at the beginning, personally flagging off the inaugural train in March 2024. Photographs from the occasion show him standing at the railway station with the green flag as the first group began its journey.

The symbolism was unmistakable: the government had promised a route to Ayodhya, and the first train was physically leaving the platform.

The programme continued into the State’s Silver Jubilee period. In July 2025, another group of 850 devotees from Raipur division was sent towards Ayodhya as the pilgrimage initiative entered a new financial year.

And the journeys continued.

In August this year, a special train departed from Rajnandgaon, with the cumulative number of beneficiaries already crossing 50,000.

Now Bilaspur has added another 850 pilgrims to that continuing story.

Bilaspur’s Turn: Ayodhya and Kashi on One Spiritual Journey

Wednesday’s journey has an additional dimension.

The devotees leaving Bilaspur are scheduled not only to have darshan of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya, but also to visit Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi.

Beltara MLA Sushant Shukla, Zila Panchayat President Rajesh Suryavanshi and Zila Panchayat Sabhapati Bharati Neeraj Mali were among the public representatives who flagged off the special train from Bilaspur railway station.

Tourism and Culture Minister Rajesh Agrawal described such pilgrimages as a means of connecting citizens with India’s religious and cultural heritage.

For the passengers, however, the significance is simpler and more personal: Ayodhya and Kashi in a single journey—two places occupying an extraordinary position in India’s spiritual imagination.

When Public Policy Meets Personal Faith

Government pilgrimage schemes inevitably invite a broader discussion about the role of the State, expenditure and public priorities. Those are legitimate questions in a democracy.

But there is another dimension that also deserves recognition: access.

A pilgrimage that is easy for one citizen may be beyond the financial or physical reach of another.

For many beneficiaries, the value of such a programme cannot therefore be measured only by the price of a railway ticket. It lies in removing the practical barriers between an individual and a destination that may have occupied a place in his or her faith for decades.

This is especially relevant for elderly people and economically constrained families.

The train does not create their faith.

It provides the means to make a journey that faith had already inspired.

A Train Carrying More Than Passengers

Railway platforms usually represent arrivals and departures. Under the Shri Ramlala Darshan Yojana, they have also become places where private aspirations become visible.

The green flag goes up.

The train begins moving.

Families wave from the platform. Devotees respond from the windows. Chants rise above the ordinary sounds of a railway station.

And somewhere inside those coaches may be a person who had spent most of his or her life saying:

“Once, I want to see Ayodhya.”

For more than 50,000 people from Chhattisgarh, that “once” has already arrived.

Faith Sets Out for Ayodhya: Public representatives flag off the specially decorated Shri Ramlala Darshan train from Bilaspur railway station on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, as 850 devotees from Bilaspur division begin their spiritual journey to Ayodhya and Kashi. The pilgrimage offers devotees an opportunity to seek the blessings of Ram Lalla and Kashi Vishwanath under the Chhattisgarh government’s Shri Ramlala Darshan Yojana.

Another 850 devotees began that journey from Bilaspur on Wednesday. September 9, 2026

For them, Ayodhya is no longer only a place remembered through the Ramayana, photographs, television screens or prayer.

It is now a destination on their railway ticket.

And at the end of the journey waits Ram Lalla.