On September 2, Dr Nirmala Yadav, 66, received a WhatsApp message from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. She was asked to confirm, at short notice, whether she would accept the position of trustee of the Ram Mandir trust.
“I froze for a moment,” Yadav, a retired teacher and former principal from Shikohabad, in Firozabad district, told The Indian Express.
“I’d been given an indication that I could be given a role in the Trust, but I never expected to become a trustee. I received a message on WhatsApp asking me to confirm whether I would accept the responsibility and was asked to respond quickly.”
Later that evening, she was announced as the first and only woman member of the Trust.
“I had never dreamt of it. I thought I had already played almost all the roles I had to in life. Then this came as a blessing from Lord Ram,” she added.
At its meeting Wednesday, the Ram Temple Trust appointed retired Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra as its first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and inducted three new trustees — Dr Yadav, advocate Madan Mohan Pandey and businessman-social worker Mahesh Bhagchandka.
The three will fill positions that fell vacant following the death of Bimlendra Mohan Mishra last year and the resignation of former general secretary Champat Rai and member Anil Mishra in the wake of the donation theft controversy.
25 years as principal, long Sangh association
With a PhD in Hindi, Yadav spent 25 years as a college principal. She was also part of the Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh (ABRSM), an RSS-affiliated teachers’ organisation.
Her administrative experience in management, she said, would help her contribute to the Trust’s functioning. “My selection also reflects women’s empowerment; I’ll ensure that the suggestions and concerns of women are appropriately placed before the Trust during important decisions,” she said.
Yadav began her career as a lecturer at BDA Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Shikohabad, in 1999. She then became its principal, serving in that position until 2006. From 2006 to 2022, she was principal of Mahatma Gandhi PG College in Firozabad. She retired in 2022.
Her association with the ABRSM also dates back to 1999, when she became vice-president of its Uttar Pradesh unit. She subsequently served as vice-president of its national women’s wing and as vice-president for higher education.
For the past two years, she had been serving as the organisation’s Akhil Bharatiya “Sampark Pramukh”.
After she retired, Yadav was elected to the council of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Agra, as the Governor’s nominee.
She studied in Bareilly and Etah districts before marrying into a family in Shikohabad.
Her family, too, has links with the Rashtriya Swamsewak Sangh (RSS) and the broader Sangh ecosystem. Yadav said her father-in-law was associated with the RSS, while her late husband, an advocate, was associated with both the RSS and BJP.
According to sources, her husband’s family is associated with the Urawar (Zamindar) Estate, whose members established a college in Shikohabad in 1916.
The institution, popularly known as “Ahir College”, was later renamed Adarsha Krishna PG College. Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav is also said to have briefly studied there.
Yadav said the college was established by her great-grandfather-in-law.
She has a daughter, who is married to a Deputy Commandant in the Border Security Force.
She added, “I’ve always maintained transparency in my administration. I believe I’ve been given this responsibility considering my previous experience and struggles, and I will fulfil it with the same sincerity.”
Her appointment is also politically significant because of its underlying symbolism.
One, she is a Yadav woman gaining representation in Ram Mandir, the centrepiece of the BJP’s ideological achievement. Two, she is from Shikohabad, a key Yadav stronghold that has seen a decades-long political tug-of-war between the Samajwadi Party and the BJP.
