Ram Mandir Trust Led By Its President Meets PM Modi At His Residence

Members of the Ram Mandir Trust led by its president Nritya Gopal Das met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence in New Delhi on Thursday. The meeting came a day after the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra, set up recently to oversee the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, met for the first time on Wednesday.

VHP leader Champat Rai, who was elected as the trust's general secretary on Wednesday, was present at the meet along with treasurer Swami Govind Dev Giri.

Das and Rai were unanimously appointed as members of the trust and were thereafter chosen as its president-cum-managing trustee and general secretary. Das is chief of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, a trust formed by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), for the construction of the temple, while Rai is a vice-president of the VHP. The meeting was called to work out the modalities and speed up the process for construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Members were of the view that the construction can be started in April. The temple construction will take three-four years, sources said.

In the last meeting, the members of the trust decided to open an account in Ayodhya's State Bank of India branch for donations for the Ram temple construction, Rai told reporters after the meeting.

The 15-member trust was constituted by the Narendra Modi government, after the Supreme Court's landmark verdict on November 9 in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case on which settled the long-festering religious issue and allowed building of a temple at the disputed site where many Hindus believe Lord Ram was born.