Newsmaker | Who is Mahant Raju Das, the Ayodhya priest who argued with District Magistrate over BJP’s poll defeat?
The chief priest of Ayodhya’s Hanuman Garhi Temple, Mahant Raju Das, has often been in the news for his statements on religious matters and political incidents that tend to spark rows. This time, it is over an argument with Ayodhya’s District Magistrate Nitish Kumar on Friday night.
A police security gunner provided to Das was withdrawn on Saturday after his argument with Kumar over the BJP’s electoral defeat in the Faizabad parliamentary constituency of which the temple town is a part. The priest showed up at a review meeting called by UP Cabinet ministers Surya Pratap Shahi and Jaiveer Singh and blamed the district administration’s recent actions for the BJP’s defeat.
Mahant Das said he met UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday to discuss the row. “I met the CM and briefed him about what happened on Friday. I have all faith in Yogi Adityanath and his justice,” he told The Indian Express.
Asked about the controversies he often finds himself in, Mahant Das said, “I do not only make statements but mean them as well. I am a warrior of Sanatan Dharma and Hinduism and have the responsibility to protect it as well. If someone attacks our religion I won't keep silent and will certainly retaliate … Like, Swami Prasad Maurya’s objectionable comments on Ramcharitmanas. After the holy book was torn and burnt, I retaliated and made my stand clear.”
He was referring to the time in January 2023 when he placed a Rs 21-lakh bounty on Maurya’s head for the comments. The following month, both their supporters were involved in a scuffle in a Lucknow hotel where a television news channel organised an event to which they had been invited. Earlier, Mahant Das also made the news over his comments on actor Swara Bhaskar and former tennis player Sania Mirza and his opposition to a song in the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan.
While removing the priest’s police gunner, the magistrate cited three criminal cases registered against him as one of the reasons. He told The Indian Express on Saturday that the process for withdrawing the priest’s three police gunners had started ever since it was learnt that three criminal cases were lodged against him. “Two gunners had been withdrawn and the third has been withdrawn now,” he said.
In response, Mahant Das said, “The first two cases registered against me in 2013 and 2017 are related to staging protests, dharna, and burning effigies over religious and political issues. The case lodged in 2023 was based on a complaint of a sadhu of Hanuman Garhi only who gave my name unknowingly as he meant to name some other sadhu. This was made clear later.”
How Mahant Das came to Hanuman Garhi
There is negligible information available about the birthplace and childhood of Mahant Das who claims that his parents “offered him” to Hindu deity Hanuman at the temple when he was four-and-a-half years old. His responsibility was taken over by his Guru Mahant Sant Ram Das. He completed his schooling and higher studies while serving at the temple.
Mahant Das said that while he was at the K S Saket PG College in Ayodhya he joined the RSS’s student organisation Akhil Bharati Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in 2001. The priest said he did his Master’s in Political Science, Ancient Indian History, and Hindi literature, and got an LLB degree as well during his time in the college, remaining involved with ABVP’s activities till 2018. Later, he served as the convener of Sangh outfits such as the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
Mahant Das, who identifies as a Naga Sadhu, said when he joined the Hanuman Garhi Temple there were 1,500 sadhus there, all associated with the Nirvani Akhara. Sadhus at the temple, he said, belong to four pattis, or schools, known as “Ujjainiya”, “Basantiya”, “Hardwari”, and “Sagariya”. Das belongs to the “Ujjainiya” patti. The sadhus of these four schools, Mahant Das said, not only look after the management of the temple but also the activities of the Nirvani Akhara across India.
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