Cracks appear among Hindu saints over Ram Temple Trust, Ayodhya

Cracks seem to have appeared among the Hindu saints of Ayodhya over heading the proposed Ram Temple Trust that would oversee construction of Temple as almost all the top Hindu organisations have started asking for their ‘pound of flesh’ in the proposed Trust.

A section of them opines that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat should head the Trust because RSS is the “true representative of the Hindu ideology” while others say that the Head of Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas should be the chairman of the Trust.

Mahant Paramhans Ramchandra Das Maharaj says that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat should be made the chairman of the proposed ‘Ram Temple Trust’. The Mahant who heads the Tapaswiji Ki Chhavni in Ayodhya said that the RSS chief is the best person to head the Trust because many organisations like Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas were trying to grab attention and power after the Supreme Court judgement on the Ayodhya issue on November 9.

The mahant alleged that the VHP leaders involved in the Ram temple movement have siphoned off several crores of rupees and thus they should not be given authority to construct the Ram temple. “On the name of construction of Temple, these leaders will mint several thousand crores again. For better transparency the Trust should be headed by people who have a trust value among the Hindus,” he said.

“The VHP leaders do not deserve a place in this committee as they have lost the trust of the people. In this scenario, we are left with the only option of having the RSS chief as the leader of the proposed trust,” he said.

After the Ayodhya verdict, Mahant Paramhans Ramchandra Das Maharaj has been at loggerheads with other saints like Mahant Nritya Gopal Das and Ramvilas Vedanti . On November 15, the supporters of Nritya Gopal Das had attacked Mahant Paramhans Ramchandra Das, forcing him to leave Ayodhya.

Another section of saints, however, say that there is no need to create a separate trust as Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas is already operating. “The Supreme Court has said that there should be a Trust that would oversee the construction work. We have an already functional trust. What’s the need to have another Trust,” asks Sharad Sharma, VHP spokesman.

This section of saints demands that Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, who heads the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, be made the head of the trust. He has the experience of heading an organisation which led Ram Janmabhoomi agitation and is the right person, Ram Vilas Vedanti said.

“Besides Nritya Gopal Das there should be three more persons who have struggled for Ram Temple and should find a place in the Trust. These are Kanahiya Das, Kishori Das and Acharya Santendra Das. The locals from Ayodhya cannot be ignored,” he said.

On the other hand, Nirmohi Akhara has also petitioned to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that it should be given an important post of president or secretary of the trust.