When Mahipal Singh , a former Accountant at the Ram temple spilled the beans to ‘Top Secret’ , an investigative Youtube news portal , the message was loud and clear – a systematic loot was taking place in the Ram temple . Those entrusted with the security of the temple chose to shoot the messenger.
A committed RSS volunteer, Mahipal Singh was shown the way out by none other than Champat Rai, the general secretary of the Temple Trust , constituted at the behest of the Supreme Court , that paved way for construction of a grand Ram temple at the Ram Janmbhoomi , the birth place of the most revered Hindu God Ram. To top it all, Champat Rai was a handpick of none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was understood to have named every member of the Trust in collaboration with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Home Minister Amit Shah.
RSS ,Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) as well as the Modi-Shah team were out to issue integrity testimonials to Champat Rai. The first certificate came from Modi confidante Nripendra Misra, former principal secretary to the Prime Minister. A 1967 batch IAS officer of the UP cadre, Misra remained Modi’s blue-eyed boy . Modi went out of his way to amend the law which prevented his re-employment in the government once he had held the top position in Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
Barely 24 hours after making an unsuccessful bid to wash his hands off the Ram Mandir robbery by pleading,”I have nothing to do with the temple Trust as I was only heading the Temple Construction committee”, Misra did not hesitate to assert, “ I can vouch for only Champat Rai but no one else”.
That Misra said so under pressure or influence of some bigwigs is not known. But what followed made it pretty obvious that the decision to ensure a clean-chit for Champat Rai was taken at the highest level – be it the government or the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh . Almost all TV channels overflowed with hyperbolic defence of Rai ,the Trust general secretary, who could not have been blissfully ignorant of the goings on in the temple.
No wonder, when the Trust met on July 6 in the precincts of the grand temple in Ayodhya, the only thing that seemed to be on its agenda was a perfect clean-chit for Rai. And what dominated the three-hour marathon meeting was acceptance of the resignations of both Champat Rai and his blue-eyed assistant Anil Misra.
Interestingly, the Trust’s legal luminary K.Parasaran was stated to have declared that the resignation of both these persons did not require a formal acceptance . “The fact that the resignations are here leave no room for any discussion or debate”, Parasaran was stated to have told the meeting. And sure enough,98-year old Parasaran’s view was the last word as he had held India’s Attorney General’s position under two successive governments of Indira Gandhi as well as Rajiv Gandhi.
Even as the announcement was made by Krishna Mohan , the interim successor of Champat Rai , it was clearly evident that the script of the decision was written only after the concurrence of those sitting at the helm of affairs in Delhi and Nagpur.
Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had maintained the same studied silence on the issue as RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. As far as they were concerned , it seemed nothing at all had happened in Ayodhya. Sure enough silence was part of their well thought-out strategy to underplay what had happened in the temple that re-wrote the politicl destiny of the country.
The strategy became visible on day one itself when UP Chief Minister Adityanath declared the formation of a 3-member Special Investigative Team (SIT) under the leadership of Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant , a tried and tested IAS officer. It was another matter that the Trust’s new general secretary claimed that the SIT was formed on his request . Whatever be the truth, there could be no denying that Yogi preferred constitution of SIT to lodging a FIR with the police.
Ideally, the stature of the Ram temple undeniably warranted a criminal investigation .But if there is choice, governments go for SIT , which leaves free hand for a “tailor-made” report .
It was widely believed that the UP CM was keen on fixing the culprits , but Delhi was ready to go out of the way to protect some of the key suspects . Nagpur too felt the same way ,thereby compelling a shift in priority.
Even as Modi-Shah were confident of the support of their ‘Godi-media’ that had consistently .played down the open ‘loot’, they wanted to be doubly sure that lax handling of the crucial issue did not go viral among the billion ‘Ram Bhakths’.
No wonder , even when the cat was out of the bag with the Trust’s meeting , the focus was more towards underplaying the extent of the loot and to emphasise that Champat Rai and Anil Misra had taken a high moral ground to step down solely on account of their moral responsibility. And that has cleverly paved way for a “harmless” final report by the SIT , that could bring down curtains on what glaringly seemed like an unbridled heist from the treasury of Lord Ram.
EOM