Lucknow: Former BJP MP and Bajrang Dal co-founder Vinay Katiyar has assailed the Ayodhya Ram temple trust management and its general secretary Champat Rai for not inviting him to the 25 November hoisting of Dharma Dhwaja by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The former Faizabad MP openly expressed his disappointment, saying that despite being in Ayodhya on that day, he was deliberately kept out of the event. Katiyar blamed Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai for ensuring he received no invitation.
According to Katiyar, a “small group” has taken control of key decision-making and arrangements at the temple. He claimed that Champat Rai is a “self-appointed” general secretary who has taken over the entire management and tries to promote himself at major events.
ThePrint reached Rai through calls for a comment on the matter but there was no response. The report will be updated if and when he responds.
Katiyar said Rai’s push for “limelight”, especially during a significant ritual like the Dharma Dhwaja installation, was unnecessary and disrespectful, and it has hurt him deeply.
The multi-term MP further claimed that several veterans of the Ram Mandir movement and revered saints were also sidelined.
“I have already said what I had to about Champat Rai. My stand is clear and I don’t want to add anything more. But whatever I stated earlier is absolutely true. I am deeply hurt by what is happening in the Ram temple management. Many leaders played an important role in the Ram Mandir movement, yet some people in the temple trust (hinting at Champat Rai) are controlling everything and sidelining us,” Katiyar told ThePrint.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 November hoisted the saffron ‘Dharma Dhwaj’ at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, marking the completion of the temple’s construction.
Katiyar claimed that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was also unhappy with the situation during the flag hoisting event when he noticed some people were not invited for it.
“That is why Yogi ji scolded some people,” Katiyar remarked in an India Today group podcast, again naming Champat Rai.
Known for his blunt statements, Katiyar touched upon other Ayodhya-related issues as well.
On the BJP’s defeat in the Ayodhya Lok Sabha seat in the Lok Sabha elections, he said that only the party candidate Lallu Singh could explain what went wrong.
He also repeated his longstanding demand that a mosque proposed to be built in Dhannipur should instead be built in Gonda or Bahraich, across the Saryu River, around 35 km away.
“There is no need to construct a new mosque in this district now. It can be built in neighbouring districts across the Saryu river, but not here,” he said.
The five-term Member of Parliament is one of the more prominent faces of the Ram Temple movement. In 1984, he was selected to establish the youth organisation Bajrang Dal to mobilise support for the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign.
He later went on to serve as the president of the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit from 2002 to 2004, and subsequently as the party’s national general secretary between 2006 to 2012.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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