Campaign to collect funds for Ram temple in Ayodhya akin to canvassing for 2024 polls: Shiv Sena

An editorial in Shiv Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ on Monday alleged that a mass contact initiative to collect funds from the public for the Ram temple construction in Ayodhya is akin to “canvassing” for the 2024 general elections in the name of Lord Ram.

The editorial said it was never decided that the grand temple will be constructed through public donations, and political campaigning in the name of Lord Ram has to be stopped at some point of time. “But the issue of public donations is not simple. It is political,” it alleged, as per a report in The Indian Express.

The Marathi daily, without naming any party or organisation, said, “The temple, basically, is not being built for political gains of a political party, but for unfurling the pennants of Hindu pride of the country.”

The editorial was in the context of a statement by Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust’s general secretary Champat Rai who said last week said the trust is going to start a mass contact and contribution campaign across the country for construction of the temple.

The editorial in ‘Saamana’ claimed that four lakh volunteers will implement the contact initiative. “This mass contact programme is campaigning for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the name of Lord Ram. The political campaigning of Lord Ram’s name has to be stopped at some point of time. But it cannot be seen (as happening),” it said.

The editorial asked who the volunteers (for the mass contact drive) exactly are and sought clarity about their parent organisation.

It said hundreds of kar sevaks “shed their blood and made sacrifices” during the temple construction campaign, and asked whether it should be built seeking donations.

“It will be an insult of each soul that shed blood for the temple if the volunteers are going to campaign for a political party in the name of seeking donations,” the Shiv Sena said.

“The fight for the temple was not political, but an outbreak of Hindu emotions,” it added.