Ayodhya, March 17 Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra General Secretary, Champat Rai has said that Ayodhya's Ram temple will have no chief priest from now.
He made the remark on Sunday in response to a question on the appointment of a new Chief Priest after the demise of Acharya Satyendra Das.
Rai said that there will be no Chief Priest now as there is no one of Das's age and respect, adding no one is as learned as him.
"We had asked Acharya Satyendra Das six months ago; there won't be any chief priest now. There is no one of Satyendra Das's age and respect; no one else has been Hanumangarhi's Mahant for so long," Rai said on Sunday.
"He (Acharya Satyendra Das) had been serving since 1993. He used to take Rs 100 as his monthly salary. Now, everyone is young and new; no one is as learned as him. Now, addressing anyone as the Chief Priest would be an exaggeration...," the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra General Secretary added.
Das was a Hindu mahant and the chief priest of the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi Temple. He had been the chief priest of the Ram Temple even before the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.
He was among the first Hindu priests to condemn the petition seeking to ban the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Bangladesh.
Acharya Satyendra Das was considered among the most accessible seers of Ayodhya and was often approached by media persons for insights on Ayodhya and developments related to the Ram temple.
He died on February 12 this year at the Sanjay Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) Lucknow at the age of 83. He had been admitted to the hospital on February 3 after he suffered a brain stroke.
"Satyendra Das ji, chief Priest of Ram Mandir Ayodhya, breathed his last today. He was admitted to HDU (High Dependency Unit) of the Neurology ward on February 3 with a stroke in critical condition," the hospital said.
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