Ahmedabad: Workers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) will visit all 18,000-odd villages across Gujarat from January 15 to collect funds from the people for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a senior functionary of the organisation said on Friday.
VHP joint general secretary Surendra Jain said his organisation will deploy some 40 lakh volunteers across the country to contact "65 crore Hindus living in 5.23 lakh villages" as part of the fund collection exercise.
"There are 18,556 villages in Gujarat and we will cover each one of them. Our volunteers will contact every Hindu as part of the fund-raising drive for the Ram temple," Jain said, adding that support was coming in from all sections of the society.
The Jain community has gifted a 25-kilogram silver brick for the temple construction, he said.
"We have decided not to take money from the government or some selected businessmen. The Ram temple will be built with the contribution of the entire nation," he claimed.
A senior VHP functionary said that Govind Dholakia, founder chairman of Shree Ramkrishna Exports, a major diamond polishing company in Surat, has been appointed chairman of the VHP's committee that will lead the fund raising campaign in Gujarat.
In August this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
