Will not allow government control of Ayodhya Ram temple at any cost, says VHP

View of Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya Dwara from Ram Mandir. | Photo credit: ANI

As the debate on changing the administrative structure of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya gathers pace, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Monday (July 6, 2026) reiterated its opposition to government control of the shrine. However, the organization said it had no objection to the appointment of a professional Chief Executive Officer (CEO), provided the person was not a serving bureaucrat and was in charge of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

Speaking to The Hindu, VHP joint general secretary Surender Jain said, “We are against government control of the Ram Temple. We will not allow it at any cost. This has been our stand from the beginning, not just for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya but for all other Hindu temples in India.”

Mr Jain said the organisation, which has long campaigned to free Hindu temples from government control, was not opposed to appointing a professional to oversee the temple’s day-to-day management.

“We are not against appointing a professional to manage the day-to-day affairs of Ram Mandir, but this person must not be a serving bureaucrat and should be accountable to the Trust and not the government,” he said, adding that the CEO should be appointed by the Trust rather than the government.

Mr. Jain’s remarks came on a day when the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust accepted the resignation of its general secretary Champat Rai, amid an ongoing investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged donation theft.

The call for appointing a CEO was first raised by Ram Temple Construction Committee chairman and former IAS officer Nripendra Misra, who advocated the adoption of a Tirupati-like model with a professional CEO to oversee day-to-day operations.

“No one is demanding that the trust deed or bye-laws be changed, but there must be a CEO with experience of working in Uttar Pradesh,” Mr. Misra said, adding that such an officer should work under the Trust.

Published – 06 Jul 2026 20:08 IST