How Sangh Parivar plans to keep Ram Temple buzz going after inauguration

Sangh sources said one lakh pilgrims would include those who have contributed to the construction of the Temple in various ways over the years, ranging from participation in the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi campaign to making financial donation for the Temple.

“VHP owes this responsibility to the people and their families who have sacrificed or made any contribution to the building of the Temple. These include karsevaks, those who were part of the rath yatra, those who organised functions in support of the movement in various parts of the country and those who made significant financial contribution towards Ram Mandir Nidhi (during the donation collection drive for the construction of the Temple) among others,” VHP president Alok Kumar told The Indian Express.

Sources said these tours would not only keep the “Ram Temple light burning in the national consciousness” after the January 22 ceremony, but would also be an “expression of gratitude” towards those who contributed in their own ways to the building of the Temple but could not be invited to the consecration event in Ayodhya.

For this, the VHP has already fanned out its workers across the country who have been assigned the responsibility to identify such invitees and to arrange their travels to Ayodhya.

“The entire country has been divided into 45 zones and each zone has a quota of around 1,500 to 2,500 pilgrims who will be travelling. A request has been made to the Ministry of Railways to run 44 special trains for this purpose between January 27 and February 22. Once the pilgrims arrive, their lodging, food and darshan will all be arranged by us,” Kumar said.

To ensure that the people from non-Hindi speaking states do not feel any inconvenience in navigating through the pilgrimage town, the Sangh Parivar has planned to rope in its activists from such states for their assistance, who would be called to reach Ayodhya 10 days before the pilgrims’ arrival. These activists would be attached to visitor groups from such states including southern ones in addition to Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal.

“These volunteers will guide the pilgrims around town, help them with their stay, visit to the Temple and prayers there,” a VHP leader said.

Stating that these pilgrims are expected to stay in Ayodhya for two days, VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal said special arrangements would be made for them in a tent city there. The first group of them is expected to arrive from Uttarakhand, followed by Delhi and Jharkhand apart from other states, said sources.

Bansal said arrangements are also being made in various belts to ferry people to their nearest railheads wherever there are no train services. “This is not merely an ayojan (event). This is a maha ayojan (mega event). After this is done, more such tours may be planned,” he said.

Besides, the ruling BJP is planning to get about 10,000 people from every Lok Sabha constituency in the country to visit Ayodhya after January 25. Sources said a decision in this regard has been taken whose modalities are being worked out by the party. This exercise, sources said, would continue till the end of March, with the Lok Sabha polls slated for April-May.