Retired IPS officer and veteran social worker Acharya Kishore Kunal died on Sunday after suffering a cardiac arrest. The 1972 batch IPS officer had taken voluntary retirement from the service for social service, and was the secretary of Mahavir Mandir Trust of Patna.
He was one of the founding members of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir Trust, and also the chief of Bihar State Religious Board.
Acharya Kishore Kunal was also deeply involved into the Ram Mandir movement and was the creator of a map presented as evidence during the Ram Mandi-Babri Masjid case in the Supreme Court. The Masjid side was so rattled by the map that Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan representing them had torn up the map in the courtroom.
The incident took place in October 2019 on the last of the hearing in the case by the CJI Ranjan Gogoi-led bench. During the hearing Hindu side’s lawyer Vikas Singh sought to place on record the book ‘Ayodhya Revisited’ by Kishore Kunal, which talks about the pre-existence of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Hindu Mahasabha said that the map created by Kishore Kunal depicted the exact location of Lord Ram’s birthplace inside the disputed site. When senior advocate Vikas Singh started showing the map, Rajeev Dhavan got angry and started tearing off papers and maps handed over to him by the Hindu Mahasabha.
CJI Gogoi let him tear the papers, saying, “if you find it irrelevant, then you can tear it off.” After which Dhavan continued to tear the maps and other documents.
According to the map prepared by Acharya Kishore, Lord Ram was born in the Kaushalya Bhavan, which was located inside the then-disputed Babri structure. The map was prepared based on various evidence, which were mentioned below the map.
Mahavir Mandir Trust made substantial donations to the Ram Mandir Trust to be used in the construction of the temple. Mahaveer Mandir Trust secretary Acharya Kishore Kunal had announced in 2020 that the trust will donate ₹10 crore for the construction.
After PM Modi had announced the formation of a trust to construct the Ram Mandir, Kishore said, “This is a very important announcement that the government has provided complete autonomy to the trust to build Ram temple in Ayodhya. It is also important that the disputed 67.07 acre of land has been handed over to the trust to build the temple.”
“We have already allocated Rs 10 crore on behalf of the Mahavir temple Nyas in Patna to be donated to build Ram temple in Ayodhya. Once the construction of the temple begins in Ayodhya, we will donate Rs 10 crore”, Acharya Kishore Kunal had said.
The entire amount of ₹10 crore was paid by the trust in multiple instalments. The last instalment of ₹2 crore was paid on 19 January 2024, ahead of the inauguration of the Mandir on 22 January.
While the Ram Madir-Babri Masjid title case was in court, Acharya Kishore Kunal was trying for an amicable solution to the dispute. He had said that there is a way to have an amicable solution to the issue, without hurting the sentiments of both sides. He believed that the Muslim side could have handed over the site to Hindus.
Acharya Kishore favoured mediation between the two sides to settle the title dispute. He had said, “I am always in favour of negotiations, talks and mediation between the contesting parties to the dispute, because it will solve the issue. I am again hopeful about it. But this time mediation is not directly between the contesting parties.”
His association with the Ayodhya dispute started officially in 1990, when he was an IPS officer and he was made officer on special duty (Ayodhya) to the then minister of state for home affairs Subodh Kant Sahay in the central government led by then prime minister V P singh. He was retained in the same post by the Chandra Shekhar govt too.
During the tenure of the two prime ministers, several rounds of negotiations were held between representative organisations of the two communities. Both contesting parties were present and actively participated in talks with the govt during that time.
Acharya Kishore had said in an interview that though nothing concrete came out of mediation during the V P Singh government, something concrete was about to be decided on the basis of the mediation to end the dispute during the short duration of Chandra Shekhar-led government. But the govt fell before the process could go ahead.
In his book Ayodhya Beyond Adduced Evidence, he said that PM Chandra Shekhar had taken some decisions and wanted to implement them to solve the dispute. Chandra Shekhar used to say that some people may oppose such a decision from their mouth, but all will accept it from their heart as the best solution to the dispute.
He mentioned in the book that Chandra Shekhar had said a one-time exception would be made for the Ram Mandir and other disputed sites will not be raised or touched after that. As per the plan, the govt was to give a written guarantee that there would be no claim on other sites if Muslims left the claim on Babri masjid.
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