Papers with 'Lord Ram' written 4.31 crore times to be sent to Ayodhya from Chhindwara

Bhopal: To celebrate the consecration of Ram temple in Ayodhya, papers with 'Ram' written on them collectively 4.31 crore times will be sent to the Uttar Pradesh town in two buses from Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh on January 22, Congress MP Nakul Nath has said.

This initiative of writing Lord Ram's name on blank papers is part of 'Shri Ram Mahotsav' underway at Simaria Dham and organised by Maruti Nandan Sewa Samiti who looks after the management of the Hanuman temple.

On Wednesday, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath along with his son Nakul Nath wrote the name of Lord Ram 108 times each on papers after offering prayers at Hanuman temple in Simaria.

"This will be a historic programme for Chhindwara. We will distribute papers among people on which each person will write the name of Bhagwan Ram 108 times. The papers with the name collectively written 4.31 crore times will be collected and they will then be sent to Ayodhya in two buses on January 22," Nakul Nath, who represents the Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency, told reporters on Wednesday.

Top Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday "respectfully declined" the invitation to attend the Ram temple consecration ceremony, with the party accusing the BJP of making it into a "political project" for electoral gains and asserting that religion is a "personal matter.