Ayodhya’s long-running ‘Ram Rasoi’ community kitchen, known for serving free meals to devotees and the poor, has been forced to shut down for the first time since Independence due to a severe shortage of cooking gas. The development has sparked sharp political reactions in Uttar Pradesh, with the Samajwadi Party accusing the BJP government of failing to ensure basic supplies and warning of protests if the kitchen is not reopened soon.
A notice placed outside the kitchen recently informed visitors that the ongoing global tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran have triggered a serious LPG shortage, leaving the facility without cooking fuel. As a result, authorities said they had no choice but to suspend operations temporarily.
For years, the Ram Rasoi in Ayodhya has served thousands of pilgrims visiting the Ram temple and local residents who rely on the free meals. Its sudden closure has come as a major shock for devotees who consider the kitchen an essential part of the religious city’s tradition of service.
Officials associated with the facility said the kitchen had run out of LPG cylinders and was unable to continue cooking meals. Without a steady supply of gas, operations could not be sustained, forcing the management to halt services.
The issue quickly turned political, with the Samajwadi Party (SP) launching a sharp attack on the BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya MP Awadhesh Prasad criticised the situation, saying it was deeply embarrassing that a kitchen serving Lord Ram’s devotees had to shut down due to lack of basic resources. He claimed that such an incident had never occurred since India’s independence.
“The BJP claims to do politics in the name of Lord Ram, yet a kitchen feeding Ram’s devotees in Ayodhya has been forced to close. This clearly reflects administrative failure,” Prasad said.
The SP leader demanded immediate government intervention to restore gas supplies and reopen the kitchen as soon as possible, noting that many poor residents and pilgrims depend on the free meals provided there.
He warned that if the government fails to act quickly, the party will launch protests. Prasad has reportedly given the administration time until March 15 to resolve the issue, after which he plans to stage a sit-in demonstration.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also criticised the BJP over the LPG shortage. Questioning the government’s claims that there is no gas crisis in the country, Yadav asked why ordinary citizens are struggling to obtain cooking gas.
“If there is no shortage of LPG as the BJP claims, why are people facing difficulties getting cylinders? Why is this problem not being resolved?” he said.
With Ayodhya being a symbolically important city for the BJP’s political narrative, the closure of Ram Rasoi has intensified political debate in the state, turning a supply issue into a larger confrontation between the ruling party and the opposition.
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