First woman joins Ram Temple Trust after surprise WhatsApp offer

Dr Nirmala Yadav, 66, received an unexpected WhatsApp message on September 2 asking if she would accept a place on the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust — making her the first woman to join the body overseeing the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

“I froze for a moment,” Yadav, a retired college principal from Shikohabad in Uttar Pradesh’s Firozabad district, told the media.

The message came shortly before the Trust formally announced a major restructuring that also saw retired Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra appointed as its first full-time chief executive officer.

Yadav brings more than two decades of academic and administrative experience to the Trust. She holds postgraduate degrees in Hindi and Sanskrit, as well as a PhD. She served as a college principal for 19 years and was a member of a university executive council for 15 years. She has also been involved in academic evaluation and has a long association with an RSS-affiliated teachers’ organisation.

Her appointment is part of a three-member expansion of the Trust. The other new trustees are Madan Mohan Pandey, a 74-year-old Ayodhya-based advocate who was involved in the Ram Janmabhoomi litigation for decades, and Delhi businessman and social worker Mahesh Bhagchandka.

The changes come amid scrutiny over alleged irregularities in the handling of temple donations. Eight people have been arrested in connection with the case, while the Trust has moved to strengthen its administrative and financial oversight.

Mishra, who served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Indian Air Force’s Western Air Command during Operation Sindoor, was selected from 5,585 applicants after a multi-stage process. The Trust also appointed Govind Dev Giri as its full-time general secretary and Bhagchandka as treasurer.

For Yadav, the WhatsApp message marked an unexpected entry into one of India’s most closely watched religious institutions.