BHUBANESWAR: The state unit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is set to start an extensive public outreach programme from January 1 to invite people to participate in the consecration ceremony of Ram temple at Ayodhya on January 22.
As part of the programme, the Bhubaneswar unit of VHP performed a yajna (special offering) at Ram Mandir and distributed sacred rice brought from Ayodhya among its volunteers.
State joint secretary of VHP (Odisha East) Umashankar Acharya told The New Indian Express that VHP volunteers will reach out to at least one lakh houses in the state capital to extend invitations for the installation ceremony of Ram Lala at the sanctum sanctorum of the newly constructed temple. Each house will be given an invitation card and a pouch of sacred rice (akshat).
He said special urns containing the sacred rice from Ayodhya reached the VHP office at Cuttack last month and was sent to all districts of the state. It has been planned to reach out to at least 10 lakh houses in the state to extend the invitation on behalf of Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust.
“The door-to-door campaign will be launched from January 1 to 15 and efforts made to reach out to as many houses. Workers of VHP and other Hindu organisations will also appeal to people to light a diya at their houses on January 22 as they did on Diwali. The consecration ceremony will be celebrated as the second Diwali as Shri Ram will return to his birthplace after more than 500 years,” Acharya said.