Close to giving finishing touches to the world’s largest religious painting, 20-year old Ashok Kumar who has painted Golden Temple on 51 ft long and 12 ft high canvass, is finding it difficult to meet the expenditure to be incurred in the completion of what he describes is his magnum opus.

The young painter who has impressed the likes of former president APJ Abdul Kalam, actress Kareena Kapoor, former CM Capt Amarinder Singh and CM Prakash Singh Badal by presenting them their portraits, has been making the painting for the last one and half years at Ramgarhia Girls College auditorium hall.

“I have used 1,850 brushes so far and a lot of artist colour. The unique thing about this painting is going to be the working clock on the Guru Ram Dass Sarai and use of pure gold powder in some parts of the painting,” said Ashok. But he was worried about how to take the project to its desired completion.

“There is still about 2 to 3 months of work left to finish the painting but I am now in a bind as I am falling short of finances. A few individuals like Ranjodh Singh, president of Ramgarhia Education Trust, have helped me so far but I am now finding it difficult to complete the project,” he said.

Ashok has put in 10 hours every day for the last one year in order to come this far and he is now almost close to completing the largest religious painting in the world. “I wish Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accepts my request and unveils it once it is completed. I have written to PMO in this regard and I have been informed that I will soon get to know whether I can meet him in Delhi to present him his portrait that I have recently made. I will also invite him to come to Ludhiana and unveil it,” he beamed.

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