January 14, 1992 – old-timers at the Janki Mahal Trust remember the day like it was yesterday. For, this was the day Narendra Modi stayed in room number 108 as an ordinary karyakarta (functionary) while he was in Ayodhya with senior BJP leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi.
Modi never stayed a night in Ayodhya again.
He had vowed to not return to Ayodhya till a grand Ram Temple was built here. Modi kept his word and returned to the temple town only 28 years later, in 2020 as the Prime Minister, for the bhoomipujan (ground-breaking ceremony) of the new temple. Now, he will be here for the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ (consecration) ceremony of the Ram Lalla idol at the new temple on January 22. The Janki Mahal Trust is near the Ram Janmabhoomi.
“Modi was here as part of the Ekta Yatra led by Murli Manohar Joshi in 1991-92 from Kanyakumari to Kashmir,” says Ashok Kumar Verma of the Janki Mahal Trust, showing News18 the room where Modi had stayed. A narrow stairway leads to the modest first-floor room. “Then he was a normal karyakarta, now he is the Prime Minister.”
“All senior leaders of the BJP and VHP have stayed at the Janki Mahal Trust. From Ashok Singhal, LK Advani, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia to Rajnath Singh – everyone has stayed here. The day in 1990 when Singhal was attacked by the police, he was staying here and came back here injured,” says Verma while showing pictures of the leaders’ visits. He does not have a picture of Modi, perhaps as he was then just a simple party worker.
Janki Mahal Trust has an interesting history, with a beautiful building and a Ram Lalla temple inside the premises where bhajans are chanted all day.
“Lord Ram lives here as a jamai (son-in-law) in Janki ji’s mahal. We do bhog and aarti eight times a day for Lord Ram here. So we take care of our damaad,” says Verma.
Was Modi destined to see the grand Ram Temple come up in Ayodhya as a conclusion of the 500-year-long struggle by the Hindu community, that too in his term as the Prime Minister? At the Janki Mahal Trust, the answer is a resounding yes as people await the PM’s arrival on January 22.
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