On the 13th of June 2021, Aam Aadmi Party took to Twitter to level grave allegations against the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra. The essence of the allegation was that one Kusum sold a piece of land in Ayodhya to one Ansari at Rs 2 crores. However, only minutes later Ansari sold that piece of land to the temple trust for Rs 18.5 crores, therefore, the Temple trust perpetuated a scam to somehow benefit Ansari. With AAP relying on a litany of lies to allege ‘scam’, one was certain that Rahul Gandhi would not be left far behind to jump on that bandwagon.
श्रीराम स्वयं न्याय हैं, सत्य हैं, धर्म हैं-
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 14, 2021
उनके नाम पर धोखा अधर्म है!#राम_मंदिर_घोटाला
Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to trend the hashtag “Ram Mandir Ghotala” and write that Lord Ram personifies justice and to perpetuate a scam in his name is ‘Adharma’.
Even Congress tweeted alleging “scam”.
The misuse of faithful offerings by crores of people for the construction of Shri Ram temple in Ayodhya is tantamount to a heinous sin & gross adharma.
— Congress (@INCIndia) June 14, 2021
BJP has failed to learn from the values Lord Ram taught us. #BJP_का_श्रीराम_को_धोखा pic.twitter.com/6ajjeLYUgh
For Rahul Gandhi and the Congress to hail Lord Ram as someone who personifies Justice is amusing in itself, considering the Congress party opposed the construction of the Ram Temple tooth and nail and it had also claimed in the court that there is no historic evidence to support the that Lord Ram actually existed.
However, for the purpose of this article, we are going to try and explain, very simply, how the allegations are of a “scam” are baseless in 10 simple points so even Rahul Gandhi can understand.
1. In 2019, Kusum decided to sell her land to Ansari. In 2019, Kusum and Ansari had only executed an “agreement to sell” where the title was still with Kusum and had not been transferred to Ansari.
2. When this “agreement to sell” was executed, Ansari gave an advance of Rs 50 lac to Kusum. The remaining Rs 1.5 crores was to be paid by Ansari to Kusum in a span of 3 years.
3. The decision to sell was taken in September 2019, right before the Ayodhya verdict by Supreme Court. At that time, the property prices in Ayodhya was rather low.
4. After the 2019 judgement, the property prices in Ayodhya skyrocketed. The land surrounding Ram Janmabhoomi and even the rest of Ayodhya became prime properties. In some cases, the cost of the land jumped 6 fold right after the judgement itself, which was in 2019.
5. In 2021, the temple trust decided to purchase this land. The temple trust has been acquiring land surrounding the Ran Janmabhoomi and other places in Ayodhya to build other facilities for pilgrims who would be visiting Ayodhya. This particular land in question was near the railway station.
6. In 2021, when the temple trust wanted to purchase the land, they realised that Kusum and Ansari had only executed an agreement to sell and not a sale deed. Which meant that the title of the land was not with Ansari.
7. Upon realisation, the temple trust asked Ansari and Kusum to execute a “sale deed” that basically transferred the title of the land to Ansari after Ansari made the remainder of the payment to Kusum (Rs. 1.5 crores).
8. After the title of the land (possession) came to Ansari, the Temple trust executed an “agreement to sell” with Ansari to acquire this land. There is NO sale deed between Ansari and the temple trust yet.
9. This was done because the temple trust wanted the land without any potential for title disputes later.
10. Essentially, all parties sat across the table on 18th March 2021. In that meeting, there was a SALE DEED between Ansari and Kusum that gave the clear possession of the land to Ansari after Ansari cleared his due payment to Kusum. At the same time, the temple trust executed an AGREEMENT TO SELL with Ansari to purchase the land. The cost difference is owing to the fact that the SALE DEED was just paperwork that had to be completed for a 2019 deal, which had the price of the land pegged at the rate at that time. The AGREEMENT TO SELL between the temple trust and Ansari was at the current rate in Ayodhya for that piece of land.
These 10 points encapsulate the crux of the allegations and the reasons why those allegations are completely baseless. AAP and Congress have often resorted to lies and propaganda to further their own agenda. Often, these parties and their leaders rely on the fact that dumbed-down rhetoric would trump tedious facts in order to create a narrative that is politically in their favour, however, the truth always has a way to prevail.
A detailed explainer of the subject can be read here.