NAGPUR: Soil from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters here has been sent to Ayodhya for the August 5 'bhoomi pujan' ceremony of the Ram temple, a VHP functionary said on Friday.
Talking to PTI, 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.
Shende said that as part of the exercise, they collected the soil from RSS headquarters in Nagpur and from Shree Ram Mandir in Ramtek, besides water from Ambhora (confluence of five rivers). "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.