Mumbai resident Prakash Nalawade said on Friday, amid preparations for the Ram Mandir Pran Pratistha ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22, that even today he gets goosebumps when he remembers that incident.
Nalawade himself had produced it for Lal Krishna Advani’s Rath Yatra in the year 1990.
Nalawade, who lives in Chembur, Mumbai, had a decoration business and had managed to convert a mini truck into a chariot in just ten days.
The chariot had to travel about 10 thousand kilometers and had to face bad weather on the way.
Advani announced the yatra on 12 September 1990 and it started from Somnath in Gujarat on 25 September.
Nalawade (66) said, a few days before the visit, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan contacted me. Art director Shanti Dev designed the chariot and asked me to create it.
We used aluminum and other hard metals to build the chariot so that it can withstand the most severe climatic conditions.
Nalawade said it had an air-conditioned cabin and power backup. He said, I had the honor of making the chariot.
As the time of Pran Pratistha ceremony is approaching I feel that Lord Ram had chosen us to build the chariot.
When we made the chariot, we felt that we are making it not for Advani ji but for Lord Ram. Nalawade said, whenever I think about it, I get goosebumps.