In 1990, when L K Advani set out on his Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya, the journey didn’t survive contact with Bihar – Lalu Yadav’s government had him arrested in Samastipur. Into that vacuum stepped Ashok Singhal, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s then general secretary, who slipped into Ayodhya and performed the shila pujan.

Standing in his shadow was a young VHP functionary named Champat Rai. Under Singhal’s wing, Rai’s position within the organisation only grew – and according to people who watched it happen, caste had a good deal to do with it. Singhal and Rai were both Baniya, and observers say that shared identity smoothed Rai’s path. 

Today, as the general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Rai is now at the centre of allegations about the misappropriation of Ram Temple donations. He was questioned this week as part of an SIT probe into the FIR in which eight persons have been booked.

Rai, on his part, has denied any role in the alleged embezzlement and tendered his resignation citing moral responsibility. The resignation is yet to be accepted.

From hanger-on to power broker

Rai’s stock had risen sharply once he was named the trust general secretary after the Supreme Court verdict paved the way for the Ram Mandir. But from the outset his tenure has trailed allegations. About incompetence, of murky land deals, of questionable procurement of construction material, and now, of the siphoning off donations. 

Rai’s name keeps surfacing in connection with all of it, and that pattern has left many seers, Ayodhya residents and Hindutva activists visibly uneasy.

That is something we encountered during a visit to Ayodhya.

At Saryu Ghat, during the evening aarti, we met Virendra Kumar Pandey, who was in his 20s when the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was at its peak. “A man who merely played the role of a hanger-on during the Ram Mandir movement was made the general secretary of the trust. Those who went to jail and endured years of litigation were all forgotten,” he said, referring to Bajrang Dal founder Vinay Katiyar. 

Virendra Kumar Pandey

Beside him sat Karpatri Maharaj, who has long managed VHP affairs in Ayodhya. “Have you heard that statement by Champat Rai where he describes Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an incarnation of Vishnu? What kind of devotee of Ram could a man be who calls Modi an incarnation of Vishnu? Champat Rai was a favourite of Ashok Singhal. It was Singhal who brought him in; he used to carry Singhal’s files around. Singhal sahab promoted him based on his caste.”

The head priest of an ashram across the Sarayu in Ayodhya breaks into a parody of a verse from........

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