VHP to collect stones for Ram temple

It plans to launch a nationwide drive for the same, asks Muslims to cooperate

Asserting its resolve to build the Ram temple, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday said it would launch a nationwide drive to collect stones for construction of the temple here and asked the Muslim community not to pose any hindrance.

“About 2.25 lakhs cubic ft of stones are required for the construction of the Ram temple and about 1.25 lakh cubic ft of stones are ready at the VHP’s headquarter in Ayodhya. The rest one lakh cubic ft stones would be collected nationwide from Hindu devotees,” VHP leader Ashok Singhal said.

To be gathered in one year

Mr. Singhal said that within one year, these stones would be collected and gathered in Ayodhya.

Stone-carving for the construction of the Ram temple would be speeded up so that within a year all stones were ready for the construction, Mr. Singhal said addressing a press conference here after the executive body meeting of the Ram Janma Bhoomi Nyas trust, which is the VHP’s supreme body empowered to take decisions on the temple construction issue.

“The Muslim community should leave their claim over Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi,” the VHP leader said.