Members of the trust formed to oversee the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, including its president Nritya Gopal Das and general secretary Champat Rai, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence in New Delhi on Thursday.
The meeting took place a day after key office bearers of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra met for the first time and named former principal secretary to the Prime Minister, Nripendra Misra, as chairman of the temple construction committee.
Das, the head of Ayodhya’s Mani Ram Das Ki Chavani, and the chief of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad vice president Rai were unanimously elected chairperson and general secretary of the Kshetra at Wednesday’s meeting.The delegation invited to meet the Prime Minister included Rai, Gopal Das, treasurer Govindji Giri Dev and senior advocate K Parasaran.
“We were invited to meet the PM, he felicitated the saints and we in turn felicitated him too,” Rai said after the meeting. On whether any decision has been taken on finalizing the date for starting the temple construction, Rai said the trust members and the chairperson of the construction committee Nripendra Misra will visit Ayodhya in the coming week for a site visit. “There are many technical details that need to be looked at first…” he said.
At the first meeting of the trust, it was decided that the date of construction of the temple will be taken up at the next meeting, to be held within 15 days in Ayodhya. According to people aware of the details,Hindu religious figures have proposed beginning construction of the temple on March 25, which marks the start of the Navratri festival.
