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Key figures of the Ram Temple movement Sadhvi Ritambhara, chief architect of the temple Chandrakant Sompura and Vedic scholar Ganeshwar Shastri Dravid, who was entrusted with determining the mahurat for the consecration of the temple, are among the Padma awardees this year. They have been conferred with Padma Shri in the category of social work, architecture and literature, respectively.
Ritambhara, founder of the VHP’s women wing Durga Vahini, played a key role in the movement making fiery speeches during campaign to build the temple in 1989-90.
Sompura comes from a family of temple builders in Gujarat. The Sompura family was instrumental in the building of more than 200 temples across the country.
The family has also been associated with the rebuilding of the Somnath Temple in Gujarat.
Dravid, a renowned scholar of the Vedas, was also involved in determining the mahurat of the bhoomi pujan for the Ram Temple and the inauguration of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor. He was also the only person by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s side when he filed his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections in May last year.
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