VHP says there will be no rallies, speeches or cracker bursting on January 22

VHP office-bearers in North Karnataka plan to celebrate Jan 22 as a religious event, w/o rallies, speeches & crackers. They'll distribute photos of Lord Ram & Akshate to 30 lakh households in 11,080 villages, & invite 4,000 people from across India, incl. PM Modi. #RamMandir #Ayodhya

Office-bearers of Vishwa Hindu Parishat on Friday categorically stated that there will be no rallies or speeches and bursting of crackers on January 22, the day when the idol of Bala Rama will be installed in the Ayodhya Ram Temple.

Addressing presspersons along with VHP office-bearers Gangadhar Hegde and Basavaraj in Hubballi on Friday, regional coordinator Krishna Joshi said that the message has already been conveyed through baithaks to workers and office-bearers.

“We plan to celebrate it as a pure religious event by holding rituals at temples. There will be no rallies, no public speeches and also no bursting of crackers,” he said.

Mr. Krishna Joshi said that they will also be not collecting any money for meeting the expenses of the religious programmes on January 22 and if anyone is found collecting money from the public in the name of VHP or Sri Rama Janma Bhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust, they will file criminal case against such people.

Mr. Krishna Joshi said that from January 1 to 15, VHP workers will be reaching out to all villages in the districts of North Karnataka to extend a formal invitation to them for the idol installation ceremony.

They will distribute photos of Lord Ram and also Akshate (rice grain mixed with turmeric and ghee for worship) to households with a message to light five clay lamps each on January 22, he said.

Head of the religious wing of VHP South Basavaraj said that they planned to reach 30 lakh households in 11,080 villages of various districts of North Karnataka between January 1 and 15 to tell them about the things to be done to participate in the idol installation in Ayodhya.