Babri Masjid demolition case accused rewarded in New India: Asaddudin Owaisi on Ram temple trust head Nritya Gopal Das

NEW DELHI: AIMIM chief and party’s Hyderabad MP Asaddudin Owaisi on Thursday (February 20, 2020) made a mockery of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s famous catchword ‘New India’ and accused the Centre of rewarding criminals for political gains.

He was referring to the election of Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas president Nritya Gopal Das as the president of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, constituted for construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, and VHP vice-president Champat Rai as  its general secretary.

The AIMIM chief took to Twitter and tweeted, “SC had called the demolition of Babri a national shame. This is the sequel. An SC-created body, constituted by the govt, has appointed as its president a man who is accused of demolishing Babri.’’ “Welcome to New India. Where criminal acts are rewarded.’’

The tweet from the AIMIM MP came a day after the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, constituted for construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, met on Wednesday for the first time and appointed Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas president Nritya Gopal Das as its president and VHP vice-president Champat Rai as general secretary.

Nripendra Misra, former Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, was elected head of committee to look after the construction of the temple and management of the 66.7 acres in Ayodhya. Importantly, both Das and Rai are among those named by the CBI as accused in the criminal conspiracy case relating to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.

They are out on bail and the case is being heard before a special court in Lucknow. The 15-member trust, operating from its office at the Greater Kailash-I house of senior lawyer K Parasaran, appointed Govinddev Giri of Pune as treasurer and decided to open a bank account with the State Bank of India in Ayodhya.

At the meeting, it was decided to build the temple in accordance with a model prepared by the VHP. According to the sources, the construction of the temple may start by April.

Government officials appointed to the trust include Additional Secretary (Kashmir), Ministry of Home Affairs, Gyanesh Kumar; Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Uttar Pradesh, Avneesh Awasthy; and Ayodhya District Magistrate Anuj Kumar Jha.

There were acrimonious exchanges when Mahant Dharam Das arrived uninvited and threatened legal action if he was not included in the trust. Interestingly, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar has also slammed the Centre for announcing a trust, which will oversee the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya but not announcing the same for building a mosque in the holy city.

Addressing a gathering in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow on Wednesday, the NCP veteran demanded that the Centre must form a trust for building a mosque in Ayodhya similar to the trust to oversee the construction of Ram temple. "You can form a trust for a temple then why can’t you set up a trust for the mosque. The country belongs to everyone,’’ the NCP chief said.

It may be noted that a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had in November, 2019 ruled unanimously in favour of Ram Lalla. It said the entire disputed land spread over 2.7-acre will be handed over to a trust formed by the government, which will monitor the construction of Ram temple at the site.

The court had asked the government to give 5-acre land to Sunni Waqf Board in Ayodhya for the construction of a mosque in Ayodhya. On February 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the formation of `Shri Ram Janambhoomi Tirath Kshetra`, which would oversee the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, nearly three months after the Supreme Court ruling in the decades-old case.