Ayodhya judgment: Ram Naam Bank announces 'bonus' for account holders

'Account holders' of Ram Naam Bank, where devotees deposit booklets with the name of Lord Ram written in it, will get a special "bonus" in view of the Supreme Court paving the way for construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.

The Allahabad-based 'bank', which neither has ATMs, nor cheque books and its only 'currency' is Lord Ram, has announced the bonus for nearly one lakh of its account holders.

Also, an award will be given to devotees who have written the name of Lord Ram at least 1.25 lakh times by the midnight of November 9-10 and deposited in the 'bank'.

Ashutosh Varshney, the chairman of Ram Naam Sewa Sansthan which runs the bank, said the bonus means that the name of Lord Ram written by devotees -- either handwritten, typed on specially-designed pages or through mobile app -- will be considered double.

"If a devotee has written 'Ram Naam' one time, it will be considered as two. However, for the purpose of award/honour the minimum benchmark has been fixed as 1.25 lakh. Those who had written the name of Lord Ram at least 1.25 lakh times by midnight of November 9-10, were considered for the award," he said.

"The booklet given by the Ram Naam Bank (a non-profit organisation) has 30 pages, and each page consists of 108 cells, where the name of Lord Ram could be written. The bonus was announced on November 10," Ashutosh Varshney told PTI.

Those selected for award will be given a certificate from Ram Naam Bank, a shawl and a 'shriphal' at a special function organised by it in Sangam area of Allahabad during the 2020 Magh Mela.

Those who have crossed the one crore mark, will be provided free accommodation at the bank's camp located in sector-1 on Akshayvatt Marg. So far,more than 12 devotees have crossed the one crore mark, Ashutosh Varshney said.

Gunjan Varshney, one of the trustees of Ram Sewa Trust, which is also associated with the Ram Naam Bank, told PTI, "Around 1,200 devotees had pledged during Kumbh Mela-2019 that they will write Lord Ram's name, and urge Him to show a path, which leads to peaceful and amicable settlement of the Ayodhya dispute."
Ayushi Shukla, who works in an IT firm in Noida, said, "We had taken a pledge during the 2019 Kumbh mela that everyday we will fill at least 10 booklets by writing Lord Ram's name in it... I wrote the name of Lord Ram over 10,000 times during this period. I am happy that there was peace in Ayodhya after the judgment."