LUCKNOW: The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has appointed three new trustees, bringing into its governing body a philanthropist associated with the legacy of late VHP leader Ashok Singhal, a former public representative from Ayodhya and an educationist from Shikohabad whose family has links with the Indian Air Force, the RSS and the erstwhile Jana Sangh.The appointments of Mahesh Bhagchandka, Madan Mohan Pandey and Nirmala Yadav were announced after the Trust’s meeting in Ayodhya on Wednesday. The three have filled vacancies in the Trust’s governing body.Mahesh Bhagchandka, 68, is founder-trustee of the Ashok Singhal Foundation, is related to Ashok Singhal, one of the prominent figures associated with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Bhagchandka is also a graduate, businessman based in New Delhi. He is also the author of Hindutva ke Purodha, a book on prominent figures associated with the Hindutva movement.He participated in the rituals as a yajman during both the bhoomi pujan ceremony for the construction of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple and the temple’s pran pratishtha programme. His association with Ram-related cultural initiatives also includes work connected with the Shri Ram Van Gaman Yatra.Bhagchandka has been involved in the installation of Shri Ram Stambhs at 292 sacred sites associated with the route believed to have been taken by Lord Ram during his exile. He is also a member of the executive committee of the World Hindu Economic Forum.
His appointment gives the Trust a member with experience in social and cultural initiatives as well as temple-related programmes. He is also related to late Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal and is a founder-trustee of the Ashok Singhal Foundation.Madan Mohan Pandey 74, is a law graduate and advocate based in Ayodhya Cantonment. He represented Shri Ram Lalla Virajman and late Mahant Ramchandra Paramhans Das in the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi legal dispute from 1990 to 2019 before the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court.His long association with the temple case places him among those who were directly involved in the legal proceedings that culminated in the Supreme Court judgment paving the way for the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya.Pandey also served as Uttar Pradesh’s additional advocate general for six years. Besides his legal practice, he is associated with religious and educational activities. He is the vice-president of the Shri Hari Satsang Samiti and the patron of the Kathakar Yojana training centre in Ayodhya.The third appointee, Nirmala Yadav, comes from a family with a long association with education and public life in Firozabad district. Though the family is originally linked to Uravar village under Sirsaganj tehsil, it has been settled in Shikohabad for several decades. Yadav herself originally hailed from Etah and moved to Shikohabad after her marriage.
Yadav served as principal of BDM Girls PG College in Shikohabad from 1999 to 2006. She later became principal of Mahatma Gandhi Vidyalaya (PG) College in Firozabad and retired in 2022.
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Priyadarshini Upadhaya, the present principal of Mahatma Gandhi Vidyalaya and a former colleague of Yadav, described her as a highly capable administrator. She said Yadav had a strong command over institutional management and was particularly efficient in handling administrative and desk responsibilities.Yadav’s late husband, advocate Harendra Yadav, had served as an RSS district chief. Her father-in-law, Squadron Leader Surya Kumar Yadav, served in the Indian Air Force and was later associated with the Jan Sangh.According to her nephew Sachin Yadav, the family’s association with education dates back to 1916, when his great-grandfather, Chaudhary Shyam Singh Yadav, founded Kanhai College in Shikohabad. The family also produced a former MLA, Captain Nihal Singh and Squadron Leader Surya Kumar Yadav.
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