Kanpur: The credit for the Ram Mandir goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the kar sevaks, who were the volunteers of the prolonged Ram Mandir movement, residents of Kanpur who had participated in the movement said.
Recalling the struggle and sacrifices made by the kar sevaks for the Ram Mandir, Anup Awasthi, a resident of the acid mill campus in Kanpur said the Ram Mandir movement started in 1985 from the banks of Saryu. During the period of 1989 to 90, Bajrang Dal and VHP members raised the slogan of 'Go ahead, say aloud and open Ram Lalla's lock'. This slogan would leave every Ram devotee energised, he said. Also 'Ram Janaki yatras' would be held, he added.
"Before the Babri mosque was brought down on December 6, 1992, a huge crowd of Ram devotees had gathered in Ayodhya. Now the grand temple of Ram Lalla stand here. It is a proud moment for people like us who had actively participated in the movement," he said.
Awasthi has preserved all news articles and photographs that were published during that time. "22 January is a historic day for all the Ram devotees. It has taken 500 years to set up the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Credit for this should be given to the lakhs of Ram devotees who took part in the movement and PM Modi for thinking to do something which nobody prior to him dared," he said.
Awasthi further said that January 22 is a proud moment for the families of several Kar Sevaks who sacrificed their lives during the Ram Mandir movement.
Another kar sevak Ashok Trivedi, a resident of Raipurwa said that he was in Ayodhya in 1992 when the Ram Mandir movement was at its peak. "On January 22, we will have a bigger Diwali. During the movement we used to say that if we did not succeed now then it would be never. Finally, we have the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and the consecration is two weeks later. Nothing can be more joyful than this," he said.
According to Trivedi, the fact that the consecration of Ram Temple would be on January 22 gives utmost satisfaction to all the kar sevaks.
Read more
