Kar sevak wears footwear after 32 years as Ram temple dream fulfilled

Mumbai: 60-year old Vilas Bhavsar from Jalgaon in north Maharashtra had vowed in 1992 not to wear any footwear until a grand Ram temple is built in Ayodhya.

On Monday, after the new Ram Lalla idol was consecrated at the Ayodhya temple, at an event led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bhavsar wore footwear for the first time in 32 years.

BJP’s Girish Mahajan, a minister in Maharashtra government, presented Bhavsar a pair of chappals at an event at Jamner in Jalgaon district on Monday and the latter wore them.

Bhavsar, who runs a paan shop in Jalgaon, said he was happy that his vow had been fulfilled and the dream of every ‘Ram bhakt’ has been realized.

Bhavsar said that after demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992, he vowed not to wear footwear till a grand Ram temple was built “at the same spot” in Ayodhya.

Kar sevaks are people who volunteer their services for free to a religious cause, the term being derived from the Sanskrit words 'kar' (hand) and 'sevak' (servant).