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Saffron flags with the slogan 'Jai Shri Ram'; a large cutout of Lord Ram; a long queue braving the harsh Delhi winter while waiting outside a Bhandara (community meal); and posters with the line 'Aao Diwali Manaye (Come, let's celebrate Diwali)' outside every house.
It's neither Diwali nor Navarati, yet Block-A of east Delhi's Vivek Vihar is abuzz with festive planning.
"Bhagwan Ram finally hamare ghar aa rahe hai. Iska humne bahut intezaar kiya hai. Toh humme isse Diwali se zyada jashn manayege. (Lord Ram is finally coming home. We have waited for this for a very long time. We will celebrate it in a grand manner like Diwali)," Anand Goel, General Secretary of Vivek Vihar's Resident Welfare Association (RWA) told The Quint.
Around 700 kms from Ayodhya, where the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha (consecration ceremony) is scheduled to take place on 22 January, RWAs and housing societies across Delhi-NCR are gearing up to celebrate the event.
The Quint visited at least five areas across the national capital region – with some planning "grand celebrations", and few opting to keep it low profile.
From organising week-long bhajans, pujas, Ramayan paths, and shobha yatras to planning on replicating rituals that will be performed in Ayodhya in the society temple, RWAs in certain parts of Delhi have become the driving force behind outreach programmes.
"On 22 January, rituals will be performed at the Hanuman Balaji Mandir in Vivek Vihar. For this, we have called at least 25 priests from Delhi, Ayodhya and Varanasi," Goel told The Quint.
Right outside the RWA office is a big park where 76-year-old Bhaigrathi Devi came with her group of five friends to plan how they could decorate their houses on 22 January.
Meanwhile, Gali number 10 in New Gobind Pura in east Delhi's Krishna Nagar is filled with saffron flags. Though this street that has over 200 houses does not have a functioning RWA, eight of its residents have gotten together to organise events for the 22nd.
"We all know that 22 January is a historic day. So we are also planing to make it special for all of us by lighting a diya in our own complex amphitheatre where a Ram Mandir will be placed," read a message posted on 2 January, on a WhatsApp group in ATS One Hamlet, in Noida.
It's been two weeks since the message was first sent and it has not stopped buzzing with updates on the Ram Mandir ceremony, Gaurangi Gupta, resident and organiser of the event, told The Quint.
However, not all RWAs in Delhi are involved in planning events. The Quint took a walk inside different housing societies in South Delhi's Alaknanda area. Here, the RWAs said that they did not plan any activity.
Bhavna Gupta, General Secretary of Vasant Kunj's Mall Road Resident Welfare Association too felt the same.
When asked why RWAs were going big on the event, Vivek Goel told The Quint:
However, a few people The Quint spoke to believed that the event was being made "unnecessarily bigger than expected."
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a resident of Noida said:
Mandeep Gupta, a Pitampura resident said, "I do not feel very comfortable. I have a problem with showbiz... I don't know what I will do on 22, but I am planning on going outside the city..."
"RWAs have always had a certain political bend, but it has become obvious over the last decade or so. Penetration of politics in to the day-to-day management of a society is unnecessary I feel," said the Noida resident.
Gupta, meanwhile believed it was an "election gimmick."
"It's an election gimmick and nothing else. There is no other agenda for government to win this election, so they are using the Ram Mandir event," he said.
However, Anand Goel told The Quint:
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