The head of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust or the Ram Temple trust in Ayodhya, who shared stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other VIPs during the groundbreaking ceremony for a Ram Temple last week, has tested positive for coronavirus.
Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, 82, was among the five people on the stage at the grand ceremony at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh on August 5.
The others on the stage were Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Governor Anandiben Patel and Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological mentor.
Das, who is also the chairman of Krishna Janmabhoomi Nyas, was staying at the Sitaram temple in Mathura.
On Thursday morning, he was found to be suffering from breathlessness and a fever following which DM Mishra and Dr Sanjeev Yadav, chief medical officer (CMO), Mathura, reached the shrine to attend to him.
“The Mahant tested Covid-19 positive following a rapid antigen detection (RAD) test. An advanced life-support-equipped ambulance was organised to shift him to Medanta Multi Speciality Hospital. In Mathura, he was attended to by CMO Dr Yadav and a team of doctors. Later, Mathura city magistrate Manoj Kumar Singh and the circle officer accompanied him to the hospital. The ambulance left Mathura for Gurugram at around 12:45 pm,” DM Mishra said.
Days before the ceremony in Ayodhya, a priest, Pradeep Das, and 16 policemen in Ayodhya had also tested positive for coronavirus. Priest Pradeep Das is one of the four priests who regularly perform puja at the Ram Temple site in Ayodhya.
On November 9, 2019, the Supreme Court of India (SC) — in a historic judgment — awarded the disputed land in Ayodhya to Ram Lalla Virajman and directed the Centre to form a trust within three months to oversee the construction of the temple.
Consequently, the ‘Sri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra’, which is responsible for the temple’s construction, was established in February.
