HT Interview: By Dec 2024, you will have the entire temple, says Nripendra Misra

New Delhi With Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirming that he will inaugurate the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22, there’s now a race against time to complete the first phase of construction by D-Day. Speaking to Sunetra Choudhury, chairman of the building committee and former principal secretary to the Prime Minister, Nripendra Misra, said he was gearing up to get everything in place on time. Misra also spoke about the second phase of the temple construction, which involves building two more floors, and a museum in Ayodhya that will showcase the Ram temple agitation.

When you went to invite the Prime Minister last week, what did he say?

He smiled and generally indicated that he knew that it (the invitation) was coming, but said it was good that we came and explained. That’s how the conversation started. He was mostly a listener, and wanted to know what all would be delivered in the first phase, and what is now due for the second phase.

Can you share some of those details?

Phase one is going to be the ground floor, which includes the sanctum sanctorum and five mandapas (pavilions). A part of the work of the mural in the lower plinth, a certain part of parkota (circular wall to facilitate a parikrama or circumambulation by devotees), and other facilities like the pilgrimage facilitation centre, toilets etc. also form part of phase one. The deity, Ram Lalla, will be installed in the sanctum sanctorum and devotees will have the facility to enter the ground floor after the pratishta (consecration) for darshan.

Phase two is the completion of the temple with the first and second floor. There was a general feeling in Ayodhya that you must provide holy sanctity to Ram’s durbar (court) because this is where he was king. So, on the first floor we will have the Ram durbar for pilgrims to have a glimpse. This will have statues of Sita, Hanuman and Ram’s three brothers. The second floor is primarily meant for religious functions, meditations, classified yajna (fire rituals) and will be used by high priests. That won’t be accessible to all. By December 2024, you will have the entire temple.

Besides IIT engineers and architects, who were the other experts you consulted for the construction?

For the lower plinth measuring 790 feet, we have artist Vasudeo Kamath from the JJ School of Art who is given a shloka (verse) from the Ramayana, which he then visualises . This iss then given to sculptors, who first do the clay work, which is then inspected by Kamathji and the architect, and Yatindra Misra of Ayodhya, a writer.

Once approved, the clay is converted into a fibre and is given to the sculptor to make the whole thing on stone. Anil Sutar, son of Ram Sutar, is the one doing the bronze work for Jatayu (eagle demigod), which will be installed at Kuber Tilla, a high point within the premises. Jatayu is known for his devotion, and will be placed in a way that he is continuously looking at the lord.

You are a career bureaucrat, so did you have to learn this on the job or did you have a special interest in this?

I have learnt from the team, as I have done in my entire career. The learning process is on a daily basis. I have virtual meetings everyday, talking to the engineers and design team, and they tell me the technical points to consider. I then test that with a professor of IIT and he gives me constructive inputs and so, it is a process. There are problems everyday, for instance, the inlay work may not be proper, and I would then have to get into (it). In the inlay, the stones may not match, then we have to spend a lot of time.

Is it all ready now?

No, I am racing against time and I’m late by three weeks.

How involved has the PM been? Has he delegated completely to you?

Oh yes. If I ever call on him, my agenda is very clear -- first the temple; number two, sanghralaya (museum); and then any other subject. He will just listen and then leave it to me. If he has some idea, he does share. For instance, he is the one who said we must make seven temples in the premises for social harmony. He is the one who gave the idea that the sun’s rays must fall on Ram Navami day on Lord Ram. He’s the one who told me while giving me the assignment that the period of agitation is over, the period of construction will start.

“Don’t ever encourage those elements who were doing the agitation,’’ he told me. This is because the agitation was over the day the Supreme Court judgment came, and everyone accepted the judgment. So why should we go back 5,000 years of history? That will be there, but that will be in the museum and not in the temple.

You have said that ₹3,500 crore has been collected from donors for temple construction. Is there a profile of donors?

A majority of them are small donors. The coupon started at ₹10, ₹100 and upwards, and a majority that donated were in the range of ₹100 to ₹1,000. These were given to volunteers who contacted 400,000 villages and from each village, the amount came in. This is a unique example of how private contribution has led to a public cause of this scale.

You are one of the few people who has seen PM Modi closely. Are there aspects about him that we aren’t aware about after nine years?

I am very sensitive to confidentiality, but I can share that the Prime Minister never ever blames his team. All the major decisions that are implemented, and there were many, there were challenges, he reviewed, he gave a solution. He never tried to identify his ownership of that solution, but gave it to the team which implemented it. His is a wonderful style of getting work from people. He is a hard-working person, but he knows how to make the team work hard. The second thing, sometimes people want to hear lots of good things, and the moment he hears that, he immediately shows the person the next mountain to climb. There is no sense of euphoria at achievements, as he feels there is a lot to deliver for the country.