Varanasi

Overwhelmed after offering puja, Arzu Rana Deuba, wife of Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who visited Kashi for darshan of Baba Vishwanath in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh on Sunday said that a major improvement can be seen at the temple area adding that relationship between India and Nepal has been eternal and will continue forever.

While praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for organizing the event, she expressed her gratitude saying, "My husband was very impressed with the warm welcome... I would like to thank PM and CM for organizing such a great event. This close relationship between India and Nepal has been eternal and will continue forever." She appreciated the grand and magnificent makeover of the Kashi Vishwanath temple and said, "I came to India in 1990 for the first time, then in 2017, and now after 5 years. I have seen a lot of change, I feel as if I am in another city itself, especially in the Kashi Vishwanath area." "When I came earlier, there were narrow lanes and we walked along the path to reach the Temple (Kashi Vishwanath), now it's been made very nicely; everything looks magnificent, and the whole Ganges could be seen from there, all clean," she added.

Touching briefly on the culture of India and Nepal, she noted, "Culturally, India and Nepal are one. In Nepal, Kashi is seen as a place where if you take your last breath, you will reach heaven. My husband was very impressed with the warm welcome; we are very touched." Sharing her experience of the temple area in the past while praising the development, she said, "When I came earlier there was a small alley and we used to reach the temple after a long walk. At that time, we went to the aarti at 4:00 in the morning. We had to go for a lot of walks at that time. Now it's done very well. But now all the buildings are looking very grand." Admiring the beauty of the river Ganges she added, "Best of all, Vishwanath ji is visible from the Ganges. And Ganga is visible directly from the temple of our Pashupatinath ji. As someone imagined the Pashupatinath temple 200 years ago, it has now come true."

After the darshan of Baba Vishwanath, she expressed her happiness saying, "darshan was very good, now it seems that this life has become successful after seeing Baba. I and my husband worshipped at Baba Vishwanath." At last, she hoped for peace in India, Nepal and the whole world. "First of all, we asked for our country. May there be peace in the country, peace of India here, peace in the whole world, blessings for all, the progress of all and our health. We have asked Baba Vishwanath for his health," she said.

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Notably, the streets of Varanasi were all decked up with Deuba's posters and hoardings to greet him. Children could be seen standing with the national flags of both countries (India and Nepal).