Has VHP collected funds for Ram temple or not?

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which spearheaded the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, on Sunday clarified that it had neither collected funds for the construction of the Ram temple ever since 1989 nor it is collecting funds for that purpose at present.

The VHP's clarification comes within a week after some of its top functionaries told a section of media that the outfit had decided to seek contributions from Ram bhakts (devotees) for construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Interestingly, the VHP's denial comes even though its Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas Karyashala in Ayodhya was accepting donations, till recently, from those visiting to see the huge piles of stone pillars, ceilings, floor slabs and other structures, carved and chiseled from red stone in last 29 years to build Ram temple.

“We are not collecting any fund for Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple. Since 1989, neither the VHP not Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas had collected or made any announcement to collect funds for the temple at the birth place of Bhagwan Shri Ram. In present time too, the VHP or Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas had neither made any such appeal nor doing so,” VHP international secretary general Milind Parande said in a statement.

National spokesperson of the VHP, Vinod Bansal, had recently told a section of newspapers that his organisation will soon approach 'Ram bhakts' seeking contributions to the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

“There is no ambiguity about the plan that funds will be pooled in directly from Hindu devotees of Lord Ram spread across the globe. Process to seek contributions will start soon for which teams will be constituted to ensure that it is done smoothly,” the newspapers had quoted VHP working president Alok Kumar as saying.

The VHP's flip flop over funding for construction of the Ram temple comes at a time when a race of sorts appears to have started among the various groups, that had played a role in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, to build a grand temple at Ayodhya.

The Ayodhya Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Ramalaya Trust recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, urging them to allow it to lead the efforts to build a Ram temple at Ayodhya, appreciating the efforts taken by the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas so far.

“The donations collected by them (Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas) and the stone-carved structures should respectfully be taken from them for construction of the temple,” Ramalaya Trust suggested the prime minister and home minister in its letter.