Ram Temple: Inside the fundraising craze to build India’s ‘Vatican for Hindus’
Construction has begun on a grand temple at Ayodhya to the Hindu deity Lord Ram, and those seeking donations for the project say the drive has overshot fundraising targets threefold. Mayank Aggarwal meets some of them in Delhi
“Muslims have mosques in Mecca and Medina while Christians have the Vatican. Hindus also need a grand temple for Lord Ram,” says Aniket Kumar.
Kumar (name changed on his request) is one of the nearly 200 people who manage the local activities of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of India’s ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the national capital Delhi.
Earlier this year, Kumar and a team of 300 people led a drive for the RSS-affiliated Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for about 45 days to collect donations ranging from Rs 10 (9p) to Rs 200,000 (£1,936) for the construction of a temple of Lord Ram, a Hindu deity. He says the temple is crucial to the faith of about a billion Hindus in India.
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