Lucknow: A day after the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust accepted Champat Rai’s resignation as its general secretary amid the controversy over the alleged theft of donations at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, uncertainty hangs over his future role in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).VHP sources said the organisation would wait for the findings of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case before taking any decision on Rai’s future role in the outfit.“Let the findings reveal the facts. After that, the VHP will take a call. Till then, we will not reconsider Rai’s role in the organisation,” VHP international president Alok Kumar told TOI.Kumar said Rai resigned from the trust following apprehensions raised in some quarters about his possible role in the controversy. “It has to be ascertained if it was just a slip on the part of Rai or whether there was something more,” he said.Rai serves as one of the organisation’s international vice-presidents while simultaneously overseeing the day-to-day affairs of the Ram Temple Trust. It is to be seen if Rai undertakes regular ‘pravas’ (organisational tours), addresses important VHP meetings, guides cadre-building initiatives and participates in major religious and ideological events organised by the outfit.Rai is among the VHP’s eight international vice-presidents. The others are Om Prakash Singhal (New Delhi), Vijayalakshmi Deshmane (Bengaluru), Ashokrao Chowgule (Mumbai), G Gangaraju (Vijayawada), Sushil Shroff (Bangkok, Thailand), Ramesh Jain (Frankfurt, Germany) and Mohan Manghnani (Bengaluru).“He has been a key VHP functionary even while serving as general secretary of the Ram Temple Trust. Now, he will be able to devote more time to the organisation and may be assigned important responsibilities in line with the VHP’s ideological commitments and organisational goals,” a senior functionary said.Rai joined the RSS in July 1981 and was shifted to the VHP as its regional secretary for western Uttar Pradesh in 1986. In 1991, amid the intensifying Ram Temple movement, he was appointed co-organisational secretary of the VHP’s Uttar Pradesh unit and stationed in Ayodhya. He rose through the ranks to become the VHP’s international general secretary in 2011 and was elevated to the post of international vice-president in 2018.
