Ram Mandir: RSS, VHP setup stalls for NRIs to signup for Mandir campaign

Varanasi: In an attempt to speed up the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya the RSS, VHP has now come with a new plan to attract at least 5000 NRIs to sign the campaign- “signature campaign for construction of Ramjanmabhoomi mandir”.

Small booths were installed at Pravasi Bharatiya Divas venue in Bada Lalpur area of Varanasi, with banner “signature campaign for construction of Ramjanmabhoomi mandir”, posters of RSS ideologues M S Golwalkar and K B Hedgewar, VHP’s Ashok Singhal along with a picture of Tagore’s ‘Bharat Mata’ on the walls and two women with table full of books brochures, paper sheets waiting to take signatures and complete information details of NRIs arriving at the venue, Indian Express reports.

“We are trying to get as many signatures as we can from NRIs for construction of the Ram mandir (in Ayodhya),” says one of the two women, Bhavna Gehlot from Rajasthan.

“This is the first time we are reaching out to the NRIs at Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas for a signature campaign,” said Sanjeev Sawhney, secretary-general of Hindu Heritage Foundation, which has set up the stall.

So far the event has received “about 500 signatures” by Tuesday afternoon,” he said.

He further added: “We started collecting signatures yesterday, when NRI delegates started arriving. We plan to go to the Kumbh (in Prayagraj), with them, as also to Delhi for the Republic Day celebrations.”

Reacting to the signature campaign, a dubai-based businessman Ganesh Kumar who has also signed the paper, said: “We want Ram temple at the earliest. It will affect our life, this is our nation’s requirement,” he said.

Kumar’s friend Girish Kumar, also an NRI from Dubai, said, “We are expressing our cultural aspirations by signing this.”

The stall has a table full of literature and booklets on Hinduism — one on “dharma aur sanskriti”, another on “Hindu dharma” and a biographical booklet on Hedgewar.

Nidhi Dev Agrawal, from VHP’s international coordination, also present at the stall helped in distributing Hanuman Chalisa to each visitor along with a rudraksh, “to help raise energy levels”.

“After we get signatures of the NRIs we plan to submit them to President Ram Nath Kovind in early February,” Sawhney said.