Ram Mandir: The key men who defied odds in India’s longest property dispute
legal history in 2019. It took more than 130 years to settle the Ayodhya title dispute as it went through the legal hierarchy from the Civil Court to the High Court and finally to the Supreme Court.
Here are some of the important protagonists of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement who defied the odds and played a key role in bringing this case to a conclusion:
Raghubar Das: He was a mahant of the Nirmohi Akhara, who moved a local court in 1885 for permission to build a'mandap' for Ram’s worship on the ‘chabutra’, or platform, in front of Babri Masjid.
He had to move the Faizabad district court after his plea was rejected. And, the same thing happened again, as the judge ordered status quo, saying it was too late to amend a “mistake committed over 350 years ago”.
Abhiram Das: Das was a mahant from Bihar who made it his life mission to restore Ram to his birthplace and came to Ayodhya in the 1930s. People and his followers used to call him ‘Uddharak baba’, or liberator.
He was a key player responsible for the installation of Ram Lalla’s idol inside the mosque structure during the events of December 22–23, 1949. His name was found in police reports with the names of the other two mahants, Ram Chandra Das Paramhans and Vrindavan Das.
Gurudutt Singh: Singh firmly supported the temple campaign. In 1949, he served as the city magistrate of Faizabad.
Reportedly, Singh and Abhiram Das both talked about having a recurring dream in which Ram appeared under the mosque’s central dome. It is said that Singh also offered prayers on December 23, after the idol was placed inside the building. In the following years, Gurudutt Singh became one of the prominent faces of Jana Sangh, and in the RSS, he is hailed as the “first kar sevak.”
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