VHP cadres will fan out across the country to collect funds for Ayodhya Ram Temple.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has announced that it will launch a mega public outreach programme to crowd-fund the grand Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. According to its leader Champat Rai, VHP cadres will fan out across the country to collect funds from as many as 10 crore people in four lakh villages.
The drive will begin from Makar Sankranti (January 15) and conclude on February 27 on the occasion of Magh Poornima and birth anniversary of Sant Ravidas.
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Rai, also the general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmbhumi Teerth Kshetra, said that volunteers will go from door-to-door with saints to seek their participation.
"In this intensive and extensive campaign from the upcoming Makar Sankranti to Magh Purnima, VHP karyakartas will reach out to 110 million families of 400,000 villages of the country and propagate and flourish Ramatwa by connecting the common man directly with Shri Ram Janmabhoomi," he said.
"With the support of people of every caste, creed, sect, region and language of the country, the Ram temple will actually take the form of a Rashtra Mandir (Temple of the nation)," he added.
Ram Mandir bhoomi pujan: Photos from Ayodhya
Rai also called upon every Rama bhakt (devotee) to come forward enthusiastically and proactively for this "Ram-Kaaj" (cause). "For this, we need not only funds-contributors but also time- contributors," he said.
"From Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Attock to Cuttack, we won’t leave any corner of the country unvisited. The VHP volunteers will reach out to every nook and corner of the country, including the Rann of Kutch, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the mountainous, forest and desert regions of Bharat, to hand out Ram temple literature to people and seek their support. People have a strong desire that Sri Ram’s Nativity Temple should come up at his Janmabhoomi soon," he said.
Rai said that preparations are underway to construct the temple. He said that engineers from IIT Mumbai, IIT Delhi, IIT Chennai, IIT Guwahati, CBRI Roorkee, Larsen & Toubro and Tata Group are working on the foundation drawing. The foundation configuration and layout will very soon come out.
The whole temple will be of stone blocks, he said, adding that each of the three floors will be 20 feet high, the length and breadth of the temple will be 360 and 235 feet, respectively.
The cadres will be given coupons for Rs 10, Rs 100 and Rs 1,000 for the crowd funding drive. They will issue coupons or receipts according to what the public contribute. Also, picture of the proposed Ram temple will be distributed among people.
