Uddhav Thackeray, other CMs not invited to Ayodhya

No Governors invited either

VHP blasts Shiv Sena & Uddhav

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

New Delhi, July 27

Setting all speculations at rest about Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray attending the Ram Temple Foundation Stone laying Ceremony to be held on August 5, it is disclosed that he has not been invited to the function.

It has also been confirmed that not only Uddhav Thackeray but no other Chief Minister across the country has been invited to attend the historic function.

This was disclosed Working President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Alok Kumar in an exclusive conversation today.

He told Lokmat over the telephone this morning that “the VHP is deeply hurt by the statement of Uddhav Thackeray ji for his suggestion that foundation ceremony be held through Video Conferencing”.

However, the decision not to invite him for the ceremony is not linked to his statement issued last night. It was a policy decision that no Chief Minister be invited for the ceremony in view of the Covid pandemic.

When asked whether an exception be made, Alok Kumar disclosed that UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will certainly attend the ceremony. He also signaled that a few exceptions could be made if needed. In response to another question, Alok Kumar also disclosed, “No Governor has been invited to the function either.”

Interestingly, the BJP has 12 Chief Ministers of its own and sharing power in 6 other states with allies. But none has been invited. The public statement by Alok Kumar puts an end to uncertainty about Uddhav Thackeray traveling to Ayodhya to attend the ceremony on August 5.

Meanwhile, Alok Kumar said, “Uddhav ji’s statement only shows his blind opposition and we do mourn such a fall of what once was a Hindutava Party led by the legendary Shri Bala Sahab Thackeray.”

“Bhumi Pujan is an essential and sacred ritual.. we worship the Mother Earth, seek Her permission to dig…….this cannot be done by e-conference.”

“The VHP has always made it clear that the Bhumi Pujan will be done by restricting participation to 200 persons and in this situation, the concern about public health expressed by Shri Thackeray are only false pretensions”, he added.

special report Govt. buys peace with Seers in Ayodhya

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

special report

Govt. buys peace with Seers in Ayodhya 

Nritya Gopal Das, Champat Rai to be inducted in Ram Temple Trust

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Feb 10

The Modi government has decided to buy peace with the Seers in Ayodhya who are seething with anger for being dropped of the newly created Ram Temple Trust (Ram Janmabhoomi Teerath Sthan). These seers were kept out of the 15-member Temple Trust when it was announced last week by the government.

The seers who had been fighting for the construction of the Ram Temple since 1949 are bitter that the government had ignored them after the victory in the Supreme Court.

It now transpires that Nritya Gopal Das, the man behind the Ram Janmabhoomi movement for the past 50 years, is set to be inducted into the newly created government Ram Temple.

If sources in the Union Home Ministry are to be believed, Nritya Gopal Das will be co-opted by the existing nine trustees when they meet on February 19 in Delhi. The Trust has two vacancies which can be filled by the 9-member trust by co-opting other two members.

One of the reasons for not appointing him directly by the government as a trustee was because of criminal case pending in the CBI court. The BJP leadership had dispatched a senior leader and Ayodhya MLA to explain to the Seer that the trustees would co-opt him as a trustee. The government is also toying with the idea of giving him the task of making him the chairman of the Trust or a Board to be created. But no final decision has been taken.

The proposal is that the Trust will create another Ram Temple Construction Board and the task of constructing the temple may be given to Board to be headed by Nritya Gopal Das.

Nritya Gopal Das is already the chairman of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas which is tasked by the RSS and VHP to construct the Temple. The 60% work for the construction has already been undertaken and now the process will begin in April.

Another name being mentioned for induction into the trust is of Champat Rai, vice president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad who is the moving spirit behind bringing the Seers and RSS-VHP together that created the ferver in the country.

A senior minister in the Narendra Modi government spoke to Nritya Gopal Das last week and assured that he along with VHP leader will be inducted into the trust.

The formal announcement will be made when the first meeting of the trust takes place on February 19. The 15-member trust includes senior lawyer K Parasaran, Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati from Prayagraj, Jagadguru Madvacharya Swami Prasannateerth from Pejawar, Yugpurush Parmanand Maharaj, Swami Govind Dev Giri Maharaj, Vimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra from Ayodhya royal family, Kameshwar Chaupal from Patna etc.

ends 

Govt. buys peace with Seers in Ayodhya

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

special report

Govt. buys peace with Seers in Ayodhya 

Nritya Gopal Das, Champat Rai to be inducted in Ram Temple Trust

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Feb 10

The Modi government has decided to buy peace with the Seers in Ayodhya who are seething with anger for being dropped of the newly created Ram Temple Trust (Ram Janmabhoomi Teerath Sthan). These seers were kept out of the 15-member Temple Trust when it was announced last week by the government.

The seers who had been fighting for the construction of the Ram Temple since 1949 are bitter that the government had ignored them after the victory in the Supreme Court.

It now transpires that Nritya Gopal Das, the man behind the Ram Janmabhoomi movement for the past 50 years, is set to be inducted into the newly created government Ram Temple.

If sources in the Union Home Ministry are to be believed, Nritya Gopal Das will be co-opted by the existing nine trustees when they meet on February 19 in Delhi. The Trust has two vacancies which can be filled by the 9-member trust by co-opting other two members.

One of the reasons for not appointing him directly by the government as a trustee was because of criminal case pending in the CBI court. The BJP leadership had dispatched a senior leader and Ayodhya MLA to explain to the Seer that the trustees would co-opt him as a trustee. The government is also toying with the idea of giving him the task of making him the chairman of the Trust or a Board to be created. But no final decision has been taken.

The proposal is that the Trust will create another Ram Temple Construction Board and the task of constructing the temple may be given to Board to be headed by Nritya Gopal Das.

Nritya Gopal Das is already the chairman of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas which is tasked by the RSS and VHP to construct the Temple. The 60% work for the construction has already been undertaken and now the process will begin in April.

Another name being mentioned for induction into the trust is of Champat Rai, vice president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad who is the moving spirit behind bringing the Seers and RSS-VHP together that created the ferver in the country.

A senior minister in the Narendra Modi government spoke to Nritya Gopal Das last week and assured that he along with VHP leader will be inducted into the trust.

The formal announcement will be made when the first meeting of the trust takes place on February 19. The 15-member trust includes senior lawyer K Parasaran, Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati from Prayagraj, Jagadguru Madvacharya Swami Prasannateerth from Pejawar, Yugpurush Parmanand Maharaj, Swami Govind Dev Giri Maharaj, Vimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra from Ayodhya royal family, Kameshwar Chaupal from Patna etc.

ends 

Modi to head Ram Temple Trust !

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

A Lokmat Exclusive Report

Modi to head Ram Temple Trust !

Mega Trust to be formed in January

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Dec 18

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may head the Ayodhya Temple Trust being set up in January for the construction of the “sky-touching Ram Temple.” The Trust will be set up immediately after the “Kharmas” (inauspicious month) which ends on January 13, according to the Hindu calendar.

If reports emanating from North Block are to be believed, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is busy finalising the composition of the historic Ram Temple Trust. He has been insisting that Prime Minister Modi alone should head the trust.

Amit Shah is busy holding parleys with the other stake-holders and studying various Temple trusts existing in the country. The Sri Somnath Temple in Gujrat, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Trust Board, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine (Jammu) and Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee (Puri) are governed by trusts. But they all are under respective state governments barring the Somnath Temple Trust where four trustees are appointed by the State and four by the Centre. Interestingly, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are members of Somnath Temple Trust as representatives of the state government. The trust is headed by Keshubhai Patel which has 8 trustees. But the number of trustees in the remaining temples are large. 

The Supreme Court had directed the Centre in November to create a “trust within a period of three months from the date of the judgment with a Board of Trustees or any other appropriate body”. The SC also empowered the Central government to frame scheme for the functioning of the Ram Temple Trust and construction of a temple.

A view has emerged in the government that Ram Temple Trust should be a Central government body with Narendra Modi as Life Trustee. The Centre should not delegate its powers to any other body or State of UP. After all, it was under Modi's leadership that the dream of “sky-touching Ram Temple” will be realised by 2024.

Home Minister Amit Shah, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, nominees of the RSS and VHP,  K Parasaran (who fought Ram Temple case in SC) and others may be inducted. A representative of the Nirmohi Akhara is to be inducted as per the direction of the SC.

It is not clear whether L K Advani or Dr M M Joshi will be included in the Trust. No one is sure whether nominee of the Shiv Sena will now be inducted in the trust after parting of ways with the BJP.

Ends 

Post Ayodhya Verdict: PM kept eagle's eye

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Post Ayodhya Verdict: PM kept eagle's eye

Talked to Amit Shah regularly from Amritsar

Modi, Shah tweets hail verdict

Sangh Parivar jubilant 

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Nov 9

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a tough time today as he had the task to monitor the situation situation post Ayodhya verdict, Chulbul Cyclone in West Bengal and inaugurate the Kartarpur corridor check post on the Indian side. He left Delhi for Dera Baba Nanak to inaugurate the check post in Punjab early morning and returned only after flagging off the first Jatha of pilgrims which included Dr Manmohan Singh & others.

Sources in the PMO said that he took a stock of situation and discussed at length all possibilities with Union Home Minister Amit Shah before leaving and was in regular touch with him even after landing at Amritsar. Amit Shah is stationed keeping a close watch on the situation.

As the situation remained calm post Ayodhya verdict, the PM posted a series of tweets around 1 pm wherein he said that it will "reaffirm people's faith in judicial process" and appealed for peace and unity.

The tweets gave a clue of Prime Minister's thinking when he said "The temple of justice resolved the decades-old case amicably. The Halls of justice have amicably concluded a matter going on for decades.”

The PM went on to say, “This verdict shouldn't be seen as a win or loss for anybody. Be it Ram Bhakti or Rahim Bhakti, it is imperative that we strengthen the spirit of Rashtra Bhakti. May peace and harmony prevail!" PM Modi tweeted.

Hailing the Supreme Court for the judgment, the prime minister said that the verdict was crucial because it shows why it is important to follow legal procedures while resolving any dispute.

“I request 130 crore Indians to give an example of peace and harmony as per our ancient tradition," he said.

Earlier, Amit Shah went to twitter at 12.30 saying that the historic verdict will be a milestone and strengthen unity, integrity and rich culture of India.

If sources are to be believed, Amit Shah spoke to the PM several times to apprise him of various developments particularly sensitive districts in Delhi, Mumbai, UP and elsewhere.

These sources say that the Sangh Parivar is extremely thankful to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi for successfully implementing the agenda; be it abrogation of Article 370 or Ram Temple. Both the issues were hanging fire for several decades and "Modi showed his grit and boldness in taking the bull by the horn", said a RSS functionary.

It was precisely because of this very reason that RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat was stationed in Delhi.