The pilfering of funds from the sacred Ram Temple in Ayodhya, and the resultant scandal could prove to be the BJP and Sangh Parivar’s Achilles heel in the coming weeks. The Mandir was built as a part of the fulfilment of a promise by the top party leadership, and inaugurated with much fanfare in January, 2024, ahead of the Parliamentary elections.
Many religious leaders including at least two Shankaracharyas had questioned the timing of the Pran Pratishtha, and had also pointed out that inaugurating an incomplete Mandir was not auspicious. These words seem to have come back to haunt the Sangh Parivar, the principal promoters of the project, following the sensational disclosures of a major fraud by those entrusted with the task of running the Mandir, the custodian of the faith of millions of people around the country.
The three-member Special Investigation Team constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government was seen by many of its critics as an attempt to cover up the siphoning of donations by devotees as also an effort to shield the real culprits. Surprisingly, no FIR was registered in the case when the fraud had come to light in order to begin a criminal investigation. However, after the submission of a preliminary report by the SIT, an FIR has been filed and eight persons, mostly lower functionaries of the temple, have been taken into custody.
The Trust general secretary, Champat Rai, and another member, Anil Mishra, have submitted their resignations on “moral grounds”, whatever it means, but the controversy refuses to die down. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad president, Alok Kumar, has demanded action against all those responsible for the scam but the organisation as well as other affiliates of the RSS, which were involved in the movement that led to the construction of the temple, may find it hard to convince the common people and devotees, who are all fuming.
Akhilesh Yadav, leader of the Samajwadi Party is at the forefront of the agitation to demand the truth, while many other smaller parties, also have joined the clamour for strong action against the powerful and the mighty.
The Congress, which could have used the issue as a nationwide subject to attack the government, has by and large been keeping silent, raising questions about its seriousness, both for pursuing politics as well as taking on the BJP. Many people have rightly or wrongly started insinuating that the Congress high command was somehow mixed up with the BJP, a fact, difficult for anyone to believe.
Nevertheless, the issue has the potential of not only embarrassing the ruling dispensation but also impacting the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections that are only a few months away.
There are political analysts who appear convinced that the unearthing of the scandal has something to do with the inner politics of the BJP.
Nripendra Misra, a well-regarded bureaucrat and former principal secretary to the Prime Minister, who was entrusted with the Ram Mandir project, has already distanced himself from the scandal by claiming in TV interviews that other than construction, he had nothing to do with the running of day-to-day administration. He evidently realizes the gravity of the situation.
The Ram Temple is not an ordinary temple. It was at the core of the BJP’s rise to power and the chants of “Kasam Ram ki khate hain, mandir wahin banayenge” was not merely a slogan, but the belief of millions of devotees in this country, as Lal Krishna Advani had commenced his Somnath to Ayodhya Rath Yatra in the second half of 1990, following the implementation of the Mandal Commission by V.P. Singh, who was in power, because of the support from both the BJP and the Left parties.
The “Mandir Mudda”, as it was known, overwhelmed the mighty Congress and its allies, and also was central to the politics of Hindutva. Therefore, any kind of deceit around this issue can prove to be the Sangh Parivar’s undoing. The RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat, and the top BJP leadership have not spoken about it so far, but there can be no denying that they must be really worried about how the issue can unfold and wreck the party and people’s faith in it, if immediate remedial measures are not taken.
The Congress has completely lost the plot. It had earlier failed to capitalize on the fact that it was during Rajiv Gandhi’s time that the Mandir locks were opened and it was also during his tenure that the Shilanyas had taken place. The Congress wants to keep its secular persona, even though it has a grand opportunity before it. It could end up being the loser. Between us.
