Ram Mandir: From Nayar to Nripendra, a tale of two IAS officers in Ayodhya
Ayodhya and the construction of the temple. A pran pratishtha ceremony will be held at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on Monday, culminating more than 70 years of struggle between the Hindu and Muslim sides which had started after an incident in 1949 and settled with a Supreme Court verdict in 2019.
KK Nayar, an ICS officer from the British times, was the district collector of Faizabad, which included Ayodhya, in 1949, while former principal secretary to the prime minister Nripendra Mishra heads the committee under which the temple is being constructed.
When Nayar defied Nehru
Kadangalathil Karunakaran Nayar, or KK Nayar, was the district collector of Faizabad when the idols were placed inside the Babri Masjid in 1949. Ayodhya was part of the Faizabad district. Despite then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's order to remove the idols from the mosque, Nayar refused to act and this began the litigation by Hindus and Muslims over the Ram Janmabhoomi.
The booklet that comes with the invitation card to the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at the Ram Mandir on January 22 includes a profile of Nayar among those who contributed to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in different ways, as per a TimesNow report. Born at Alleppey in Kerala, Nayar studied at Sanatana Dharma Vidyashala, Alleppey, and went on to study at University College, London, after which he joined the Indian Civil Service.
Ayodhya Ram Mandir inauguration: Check date wise full schedule and timings of Pran Pratishtha ceremony
On the night of December 22-23, 1949, an idol of Ram Lalla “mysteriously” appeared inside Babri Masjid, setting in motion a chain of events that was to change the course of Indian politics in later decades. As per a TOI report,
