(This story originally appeared in on Jan 16, 2017)

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet recently restored prime plots of land in Delhi to 26 religious and socio-cultural institutions with rightwing leanings, giving a fresh twist to a political saga that started with allotments during the Vajpayee government.The UPA government had formed a committee under former bureaucrat Yogesh Chandra to look at all 225 allotments made during the term of its predecessor, the BJP-led government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee . Of these 125 related to government and political institutions, so the panel did not touch these but recommended cancellation of 32 of them, remaining 100 that it identified as having benefited for political reasons.The list went back and forth between ministries of urban development and law, and the attorney general’s office, before it was frozen at 29. As soon as this was made public, 26 institutions went to the Delhi High Court and got a stay while three decided to return the plots.The current government formed another two-member committee that trashed the UPA recommendations and restored the allocations. It also suggested returning the plots surrendered by the other three that didn’t go to the court.ET has accessed the list of organisations that are back on Delhi map, largely on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg. Among the organisations that stand to benefit with the Narendra Modi government coming to their aid are those affiliated to the RSS or linked to the BJP or its student wing Akhil Bhart i ya Vidyarthi Parishad, along with spiritual groups.