Express News Service
NEW DELHI / LUCKNOW: While President Ram Nath Kovind made the first donation for the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat launched a campaign from Valmiki temple in Delhi, where Mahatma Gandhi had stayed for seven months in 1947 when the country was engulfed in communal riots.
Ram Nath Kovind made a contribution of Rs 5,01,100 on behalf of his family, the international working president of the VHP Alok Kumar told TNIE. He said that the VHP has received donation on behalf of the family of the Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. “We don’t have permission from him to disclose the amount,” he added.
The RSS chief sought the blessings of Krishna Shah Vidyarthi, the Mahant of the Valmiki temple on Mandir Marg, as part of the launch of the campaign to reach out to 65 crore people across the country. “There was a one room Dharamshala at the Valmiki temple where Mahatma Gandhi had spent seven months in 1947 when there were riots all around.
The RSS has lunched the campaign from a very historical place,” Kumar said, adding that the campaign for the donation will run till February 27 and by then 5.25 lakh villages and 13 crore families would be contacted. On Friday, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan donated Rs 1 lakh; UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath was also among the donors; former UP CM Kalyan Singh also donated.
Members of Muslim Rashtriya Manch offered to make a donation. The construction of the temple in Ayodhya is estimated to cost around Rs 1,100 crore, of which around Rs 300-400 crore will be the cost of building the main temple structure.
Modes of donations explainedDonations can be accepted through four media in the form of coupon worth Rs 10, Rs 100, Rs 1,000 . Besides, cash till Rs 20,000 will be accepted but beyond it, donations will have to be made through cheque