The Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust was formed on February 5, 2020, following the Supreme Court’s 2019 judgement that ruled that a trust be formed to oversee the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Since then, the 15 members of the Trust have been at the forefront of the temple’s construction and of the arrangements for the idol consecration ceremony that will be held on Monday. We take a look at the key members of the Trust, many of whom were associated with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Advocate K Parasaran (founder Trustee): A prominent Supreme Court lawyer who also served as a former Attorney General of India, Parasaran was named the first trustee of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust after its approval by the Union Cabinet in February 2020. The senior lawyer successfully argued the Ayodhya title case in the apex court and is credited with winning it. Parasaran started his practice before the Supreme Court in 1958. During the Emergency, he was the Advocate General of Tamil Nadu. In 1980, he was appointed Solicitor General of India. He had also appeared for the Nair Service Society to defend the ban on the entry of menstruating women in the Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala. However, a five-judge Supreme Court Bench allowed the entry of women into the temple. Mahant Nritya Gopal Das (president): He is considered one of the foremost figures of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in the 1990s. Das served as the president of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, a trust formed to promote the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, as well as the head of the Shri Krishna Janambhoomi Trust. Das was also among the accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case. A Lucknow court acquitted the accused in September 2020. Das is also the mahant of Ayodhya’s largest temple, the Mani Ram Das Ki Chavani. He was appointed mahant in 1965 at the age of 27. In 2015, the Central government sanctioned Y-category security for Das who in 2001 survived an attack from assailants who hurled crude bombs at him while was on his way to the Saryu. Das survived with splinter injuries while four others sustained serious injuries. Champat Rai (general secretary): Rai is the current vice-president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). He has been associated with the Ram Temple movement since the 1980s. Following the Supreme Court’s 2019 judgment, the role of the VHP, consequently Rai, gained a lot of significance. Rai has been a key player in raising funds for the construction of the Ram Temple, addressing gatherings and campaigning across India. During a 45-day campaign in 2021, the Trust managed to collect over Rs 2,000 crore for the temple. Rai was also a chief litigant in the Ram Temple case and was entrusted with the responsibility of sharing temple-related updates with the media. Swami Govind Giri (treasurer): Born Acharya Kishoreji Madangopal Vyas on January 25, 1949, in a Brahmin family in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, he inherited the legacy of studying the Hindu religion from his parents as part of a family tradition. He completed his primary education in his village and later joined the Tatvagyan Vidyapeeth founded by Shri Pandurang Shastri Aathavale. He then went to Varanasi, where he studied the Vedas, Upanishads, and other Hindu scriptures. He is the founder of the Sant Shri Dnyaneshwar Gurukul. Dr Anil Mishra (member): Dr Anil Mishra and his wife Usha are currently in the spotlight for being the “pradhan yajman (primary hosts)” for all of the pre-consecration rituals being held. A resident of Ayodhya, he has been operating a homoeopathic clinic in the temple town for the last four decades. Born in UP’s Ambedkar Nagar district, Mishra retired from the posts of the Uttar Pradesh Homeopathic Board Registrar and the district Homeopathic officer for Gonda district in 2021. He has been an active member of the RSS for several decades. Kameshwar Choupal (member): Choupal, the lone Dalit member of the Trust, has long been associated with the RSS. He has been an RSS pracharak in several districts of Bihar and in 1980 started working as an office-bearer of the VHP. He took part in the Ram Temple movement from 1989. Choupal was a member of the Bihar Assembly from 2002 to 2014 as a BJP MLA. Vimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra (member): Mishra belongs to the erstwhile royal family of Ayodhya and is still addressed as “Raja saheb” in parts of the town. He contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections on a BSP ticket but lost to Nirmal Khatri of the Congress. Swami Vishwaprasanna Tirtha (member): He is the seer of the Pejawar Mutt in Udupi, Karnataka, and succeeded Vishwesha Tirtha Swami. He is the 35th seer in the lineage of the Pejawar Mutt. He studied the Vedas at Admar Gurukula and at the Vedanta Vidwat of the SMSP Sanskrit College in Karnataka. Born Devidas Bhat, the seer was initiated into the monastic order in 1988. He runs a special school at Neelavara in Udupi, a higher primary school at Ambagilu and Yellur, and a gurukul at the mutt. Mahant Dinendra Das (member): Das is a mahant of the Nirmohi Akhara, a sect that runs and owns several temples and maths in states such as UP, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. Swami Parmanand Giri ji Maharaj (member): Born in UP’s Fatehpur on October 26, 1935, he is a disciple of Swami Akhandanand and gives devotional lectures across the world. Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati ji Maharaj (member): He runs an ashram in Prayagraj, UP, which is commonly known as “Shankar Ashram”. He had also participated in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement since the beginning.
