Monitor News Desk
Srinagar: Samples of soil from Sharda Peeth, a historical Hindu temple in Pakistan Administered Kashmir, and from the RSS headquarters in Nagpur will be used in the foundation stone of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on August 5.
In a statement, Ravinder Pandita, founder Save Sharda Committee, Kashmir, said on the invitation of VHP, they attended the press conference in New Delhi recently and presented the soil got from Sharda Peeth in Pakistan Administered Kashmir to VHP president Alok Kumar.
“The soil along with (other samples of) soil collected from various parts of the country shall reach Ayodhya on 5 August where it will be used in Garb greh of the temple in the foundation,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, soil from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur too has been sent to Ayodhya for the August 5 ‘bhoomi pujan’ ceremony of the Ram temple, a VHP functionary, according to reports, said on Friday.
Govind Shende, the Vidarbha prant pramukh of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), said that soil from a temple in Ramtek and water from the confluence of five rivers, both near Nagpur city, have also been sent for the upcoming event.
“Earlier, it was decided that soil and water from different places in the country, including the religious places, would be collected and people in thousands would go for the bhoomi pujan of Ram temple in March. However, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, it could not happen,” he said.
“Now, as August 5 was suddenly fixed as the bhoomi pujan date, we decided to gather the soil and water from the places that we could visit and send it to Ayodhya,” he added.
As part of the exercise, we collected the soil from RSS headquarters in Nagpur and from Shree Ram Mandir in Ramtek, besides water from Ambhora (confluence of five rivers), Shende said.
“The intention is that we will feel that we have also taken part in the bhoomi pujan ceremony,” he said.
According to him, the soil and water has been sent to Ayodhya by courier on Thursday.
On Wednesday, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra trust had said in Pune that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would attend the ground-breaking ceremony of the Ram temple on August 5.
The trust member, Swami Govind Devgiri Maharaj, had also said that in view of the coronavirus pandemic, only 200 people would attend the ceremony and all social distancing norms will be followed at the event.
