VHP to urge MPs across party lines to rally for Ram temple

After holding a massive ‘Dharma Sabha’ on Sunday, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is now planning to send its representatives to meet Members of Parliament (MP) from across party lines and seek their support for an early construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. The constituency-wise drive will begin in the first week of December.

Besides, VHP will also hold similar ‘Dharma Sabhas’ but on a smaller scale across the state to garner support for the cause. Office bearers said that in order to reach out to the public for these meetings, every medium would be adopted.

“We are going to meet all the MPs and urge them to think above party lines, in the name of Ram, and also tell them that they should exercise their personal opinion,” said Bholend, organisational secretary of VHP’s Awadh Prant.

The plan is to tour every Lok Sabha constituency before Gita Jayanti on December 18, he added.

“Before 1992, when people were told how Ram was living inside a jail, they took the movement forward. Similarly, through these meetings, public will be told how the same lord is now living inside a tent because of stubbornness of a few people. It will be the public who will again take the lead,” he said.

“The VHP will also be holding pledge-taking programmes at various places in the country in support of the Ram temple. This will begin on Gita Jayanti and will continue for almost a week,” Bholend said.

VHP spokesperson in Ayodhya, Sharad Sharma, said, “A similar Dharma Sabha is scheduled to be held in Delhi on December 9, in which over 5 lakh people are likely to turn up. Then on January 31 and February 1, we are going to organise a Dharma Sansad in Prayagraj in which more than 5,000 seers from across the country are likely to participate. Seers from southern and north-eastern states have been specifically invited.”

The Dharma Sansad will deliberate on various issues, including Ram Temple, cow protection and River Ganga.

“Social harmony will be another issue on which detailed discussions will be held,” Sharma said.

“Through the Dharma Sabha, we were able to send a message that the Hindu society wants a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya,” Sharma said, adding that a road map for the next course of action will be finalised during the 2019 Kumbh in Prayagraj.

The ‘Dharam Sabha’ is being seen by the Opposition as an effort by the saffron brigade to test waters ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. “Despite the matter being sub-judice, there is an extraordinary hurry on the part of the VHP, BJP and their associates to give another push to the issue which was dormant for the last four years. The BJP is losing its ground in and around Ayodhya, and the Dharam Sabha was a desperate act to revitalise its cadre. However, this has met with very little success,” former MLA from Ayodhya, Tej Narayan Pandey alias Pawan Pandey (SP) told PTI.

(With PTI inputs)