With turmeric & rice, VHP goes door to door to rally people

LUCKNOW: Knocking on doors in the villages of Uttar Pradesh, members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) are using turmeric (haldi) and rice (akshat) to connect with people around the state as an invitation to the ‘Dharam Sabha’ in Ayodhya on November 25.

A ritualistic Hindu practice that denotes something auspicious and indicates that success is likely, the turmeric and rice invitation is among the many mediums being used by the VHP to make the Sabha and ‘Sant Samagam’ in Ayodhya a grand success.

There are several hoardings decorating the crossroads of Lucknow. Cut-outs have been lined up on dividers of roads with heavy traffic. Stickers that can be pasted on vehicles and on walls are being sent to homes along with newspapers.

The round sticker claims that VHP has come out on roads for the pride of the Ram temple. It has the words, ‘Ayodhya ji chalo’ and ‘Ram Lalla ke vaaste, khaali kar do raaste’ (clear all roads for Ram Lalla) along with pictures of Ram with a bow and arrow and details of the event.

“It is auspicious in Hinduism to use turmeric and rice. VHP volunteers are going about villages, distributing these two items in a symbolic amount, a pinch, as an invitation for the programme,” said VHP Awadh prant chief Sharad Sharma. He also said, “VHP had not centrally decided to do this, volunteers themselves took this initiative in villages. It strikes a chord of connect with the people and this is what we want to do when we humbly invite them for the Dharam Sabha.”