Ram Mandir: Stories you surely did not hear about these devotees

By Ishank Katyal

Jabalpur: On the occasion of Bhumi Pujan which will take place on Wednesday, August 5 for the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, this 81-year-old woman from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh Urmilla Chaturvedi will break her 28 years old fast for the Bhumi Pujan. Urmilla Chaturvedi had given up eating food in 1992 after the demolishment of Babri Masjid. After the Ayodhya riots, she pledged that she will consume food only when the construction of Ram Mandir will take place.

Chaturvedi described that she got distraught after she saw the violence in Ayodhya after the 1992 Riots in the city. Since then, she vowed that she will only eat fruits and drink milk instead of having a proper meal. In November 2019, when Supreme Court of India gave a verdict in favor of Ram Mandir ordered that 2.77 acres of the disputed area will be allowed for the construction of the temple, Urmilla Chaturvedi’s son Amit Chaturvedi told PTI: “My mother was on a fruit and milk diet for the past 27 years. She was 54 at the time she started this fast. Now she is very happy with the Supreme Court verdict.”

Faizabad: Jamshed Khan and Wasi Haider who are the residents of Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh are the Muslim devotees of Lord Ram who are geared up for the Bhumi Pujan said, “We believe in the fundamentals of Islam, but we also believe that Lord Ram was our ancestor. It will be great that we will witness the construction of Ram Mandir.”

Apart from that, there are other Muslim devotees of Lord Ram like Babloo Khan who is a local Muslim leader in Ayodhya and is all set for the Bhumi Pujan of the temple.