VHP To Re-Launch Ayodhya Temple Movement

New Delhi, March 21: The Indian right-wing Hindu nationalist organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which has been at the spearhead of the Ram Temple movement since it began in 1980’s, has decided to re-launch the movement.

The announcement of VHP comes at a time when Hindutva extremist Mahant Yogi Adityanath has been sworn in the post of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday asked petitioners to find an “amicable solution” to the dispute.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Hindutva based organisation has said it will launch a movement called ‘Ram Mahotsav’ from March 26 to April 16.

“The Hindu New Year begins on March 28, with Chaitra Shukla Pratipada. Two days before that, we will launch a movement called ‘Ram Mahotsav’. Through this movement, we will go to villages and teach the people on the kind of life that Lord Ram led and how they should also imitate it. We will also launch ‘Jagran Yatras’ in each block headquarters, demanding that a Ram Temple be built in Ayodhya at the earliest. Now there are not any causes to hold up the construction of the Ram temple,” said Ishwari Prasad, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Zonal President for Western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

When asked what expectations he has of the new Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, who is seen as a Hindutva icon, he said, “We are assured that the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister will support us in the movement. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power in the Center and in the state. Ram devotees from over 3 lakh villages have sent stones over the years and 3/4th of these stones are now ready for temple construction. The Ram Temple construction fund is also ready. However, the temple must only be built on the exact spot where the Lord was born. The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh must not compromise on that front at all.”