Even as opposition parties in Bharat are doing politics over the Ayodhya Ram Mandir Pran Prathishthan ceremony, the Hindu diaspora all over the world celebrates the event with pride. In the run-up to the consecration ceremony scheduled for 22nd January, Dharmik organizations in countries like the UK, US, Australia, France, Germany, Finland, Ethiopia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Africa, Belarus, Trinidad and Tobago, etc. are holding multiple events to celebrate the historic occasion.
Many of these events are being coordinated by the Vishva Hindu Parishad. VHP is active in many countries across the world and is thus majorly coordinating events happening in different countries in the run-up to the historic occasion. In the US, the Ram Mandir inauguration ceremony is being celebrated with giant billboards, car rallies, and exhibitions. According to media reports, giant billboards depicting lord Ram have been installed in at least 10 US states. More than 40 such billboards have been reportedly put up in Texas, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Georgia. The Hindu American community has organized several car rallies across the US to mark the inauguration of the Ram temple. One such rally was recently organized by the Washington DC Chapter of VHP America. The X handle of VHP America gives detailed information on various events being organized in the US in the run-up to the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishthan ceremony.
The Hindu organization CoHNA active in Canada and the US is also organizing events in the US and Canada in the run-up to the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishthan ceremony. The organization also recently shared a post on X in this regard.
“CoHNA is proud to join Hindus worldwide in celebrating this momentous occasion, honoring the spiritual return of Shri Rama to his birthplace. The entire movement stands as a model for the Decolonization of indigenous communities globally. In a region where they are the numerical majority, adherents of the ancient indigenous Hindu tradition undertook a 500-year-old struggle to reclaim their religious rights. Shri Ram is known as the embodiment of Dharma! May the restoration of his reverence through truth and reconciliation lead to justice for all”.
Woke Hindus in Bharat see the Ram Mandir inauguration ceremony as a symbol of the subjugation of minorities and Hindutva majoritarianism. The global woke media also peddles that narrative insinuating that the Mandir inauguration ceremony will be responsible for creating communal tensions in Bharat. Educated Bharatiyas have unfortunately internalized colonization to such an extent, courtesy decades of leftist propaganda that they are almost scared to embrace anything pertaining to their legacy and culture.
The Hindu diaspora, on the contrary, offers a refreshingly different perspective. While the educated Hindus of Bharat seem to be living in a woke la la land, the Hindu diaspora in the west is getting more assertive of its Hindu identity in the face of repeated Hinduphobia, anti-Hindu hatred manifesting itself in the form of numerous temple attacks and hate crimes against Hindus. Even as Bharat gets geared up to celebrate the historic moment of the Ram Mandir inauguration, a terrorist like Gurpatwant Singh Pannun routinely and casually issues all sorts of threats to Hindus living in the west.
He also issues numerous threats to Bharat. What’s even more interesting is that the same woke media that talks about Hindutva fascism and this and that, doesn’t see any problem with temple attacks in the west, or threats issued by the likes of Pannun. In the convenient vocabulary of wokeland, these things get classified as “freedom of expression”.
That’s why an occasion like the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishthan ceremony becomes even more important for the Bharatiya diaspora than for Hindus living in Bharat. It’s something that connects them to their roots. Their celebrations of the grand event also become a political statement and a point of resistance against the rising Hinduphobia in the west.
The Ram Mandir Pran Pratishthan ceremony is being celebrated in Canada as well under the aegis of various Hindu organizations like the Vishva Hindu Parishad Canada and CoHNA Canada. Car rallies are being planned across the country in the run-up to the ceremony. According to the website of VHP Canada, more than 101 events have been planned across Canada to celebrate the Shri Ram Murti Pran Pratishtha in Ayodhya on January 22nd. Various Mandirs and Dharmik organizations of Canada have become a part of these celebrations. These include organizations like the Bharat Cultural Society of Alberta, Sri Satya Saibaba Centre, ISKCON Mandir – Calgary, Lakshmi Narayan Mandir, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Bharat Mata Mandir, Chinmaya Mission, etc.
In the UK, all events and activities being planned to commemorate the Ram Mandir inauguration are being coordinated under the aegis of a website – UK Celebrates Ayodhya Ram Mandir. The website provides a detailed overview of celebrations in the UK. It also lists various innovative ideas for celebrations. One of the most interesting features about the UK celebrations of Ram Mandir inauguration is that more than 200 mandirs, community organizations, and associations across the country have signed the UK declaration. The declaration pertaining to the inauguration of the Sri Ram Mandir in Ayodhya reaffirms the commitment of these organizations to the cause of the Ram Mandir and the ideals of Ram Rajya (an ideal nation state).
https://www.ukcelebratesayodhya.com
“As we approach this auspicious occasion, we hope households in the United Kingdom will celebrate this home-coming of Sri Ram to Ayodhya as a festival of Diwali. May this Mandir serve as a luminous beacon of hope, and peaceful co-existence to echo the ideals of ‘Ram Rajya’ amongst the communities across the wider world”, these lines towards the end of the declaration aptly support the spirit and essence in which it was written.
The celebrations in the UK are also pretty innovative with various creative events being planned to enable participants to learn more about the legacy and history of lord Ram in a fun and out-of-the-box way. Free Online Jai Shri Ram art workshops, quizzes pertaining to the history of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir, Rangoli and diya lighting events, Sundarkand Paths and Bhajans, etc. are being organized to celebrate the occasion. The Akshata distribution drive that’s being carried out in Bharat on a massive scale through the network of local mandirs is being organized in the UK as well.
The UK Celebrates Ayodhya Ram Mandir website also has a list of innovative suggestions for celebration ideas both in the run-up to the event and on the day of the actual consecration ceremony. Storytelling sessions, quiz and arts activities, role-play sessions, and traditional games inspired by the Ramayana to engage and educate people are some of these suggestions. The site also gives suggestions to Bharatiyas in Britain on how to celebrate on the actual day of the inauguration, which is the 22nd of January. People are advised to display a prominent photo or murti of lord Ram adorned with diyas, recite mantras or bhajans dedicated to lord Ram, participate in events organized at local temples, and light earthen lamps on the auspicious day to celebrate the second Diwali.
These worldwide celebrations of the Ram Mandir Pran Prathishthan ceremony are indeed symbolic of the global Hindu resurgence. Even as the Hindu diaspora in the west faces repeated temple attacks, anti-Hindu slurs, and hate crimes, it’s indeed a courageous gesture on their part to hold these celebrations, considering the fragile ecosystem in these countries when it comes to ensuring the safety and security of the places of worship of Hindus.
