Shiv Sena declared that December 6 will be marked as ‘Shila pujan divas’. (Express photo by Prashant Nadkar/File)Two weeks after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray visited Ayodhya and sought a legislation or ordinance to make way for construction of a Ram temple, his party’s state unit on Tuesday declared that December 6 will be marked as ‘Shila pujan divas’. On this day, they plan to collect ‘bricks’ for the temple and organise a puja in each of the state’s 75 districts.
For the past two decades, the party had been “celebrating” December 6 — the day the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992 — as ‘Vijay divas’.
“For how long we are going to mark the day as Vijay divas? The time for that is over. The time has come to actually begin construction of the temple. Since 1992, the day has been marked by us as a day of victory but it no longer holds significance. This year, we will move a step closer to building of Ram temple.,” said Anil Singh, Sena’s state president.
Singh said on December 6, Sena volunteers would collect bricks as “donations” from people for construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, which would be “purified” through a ‘puja’. After the ‘shila pujan’, the party will initiate a campaign to collect these bricks or ‘shilas’ from different parts of the state in Lucknow, from where they will be sent to Ayodhya district administration for construction of the temple.
