A hundred years after the birth of one of the Vishva Hindu Parishad's most consequential leaders, Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat joined a live centenary commemoration programme for Ashok Singhal in Jodhpur on Sunday, 25 October 2026 — honouring a figure whose name remains inseparable from the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

Shekhawat shared a live broadcast link of the event under the hashtag #100YearsOfAshokJi, identifying it as a Jodhpur Prant (provincial) programme marking the birth centenary year of Ashok Singhal (1926–2015). Singhal served as the long-time president of the VHP and was among the most recognised voices of the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign that culminated decades later in the consecration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya.

Ashok Singhal: the man the centenary honours

Born in 1926, Singhal joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a young man and rose through its affiliate network to lead the Vishva Hindu Parishad — founded in 1964 — through some of its most turbulent and defining decades. His stewardship of the VHP through the 1980s and 1990s made him a polarising but undeniably influential figure in Indian public life. He passed away in November 2015, before the Supreme Court's landmark 2019 verdict paved the way for the Ayodhya temple's construction.

The centenary year has seen VHP-affiliated organisations and cultural bodies organise commemorative events across provinces, with the Jodhpur gathering being part of that nationwide arc.

Culture Ministry's centenary tradition and the Jodhpur connect

Shekhawat's participation carries ministerial weight. The Ministry of Culture has maintained a practice of marking birth centenary years of national and cultural figures through state-level programmes — a tradition active since at least 2014. His presence at a Jodhpur provincial event also underscores his rootedness in the constituency he represents in the Lok Sabha: Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

Rajasthan, governed by the BJP, has been an active participant in cultural heritage initiatives that the Centre has championed — and an event of this scale, drawing a Union Minister to a live broadcast, signals the institutional seriousness with which the centenary is being observed.

Singhal's centenary is not merely a VHP internal affair — it is arriving at a moment when the broader cultural ecosystem around which he built his life's work is arguably at its most prominent in Indian politics. A hundred years on, the movement he shaped is now woven into the mainstream conversation about India's civilisational identity — and that context makes this Jodhpur gathering far more than a ceremonial date on a calendar.