Ravi S Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 14

The controversy regarding the purchase of additional land allegedly at an inflated rate in Ayodhya regarding construction of precinct of Ram Temple snowballed on Monday with Opposition parties stepping up their charge of corruption, while the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and the BJP hitting back.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took a jibe, saying that donations by devotees were misused, which was a sin.

“Crores of people made their offerings at the feet of God stemming from their faith and devotion. Misuse of those donations is ‘adharma’, a sin, and denigration of their faith,” Gandhi said in a crisp tweet in Hindi.

Trust’s general secretary Champat Rai debunked the insinuations of corruption in purchase of the piece of land.

“A few people are running propaganda regarding the purchase of the  land by the Trust is misleading,” Rai said, and added that the people who are indulging in it are political persons.

“They are doing so with the motivation of political grudge to mislead people.”

He said the prices of land in Ayodhya have shot up after Supreme Court allowed construction of the temple. People from all over the country have started purchasing land.

The Uttar Pradesh government is also making large scale purchase of land for development of Ayodhya in view of the proposed temple.

“The Trust is also purchasing land from open market with regard to the temple,” Rai said.

Samajwadi Party leaders of Uttar Pradesh and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh had alleged that the land which was worth rupees two crore was purchased by Trust at Rs 18.5 crore. 

The BJP has hit back cautioning the Opposition parties to desist from politicking.

Its Uttar Pradesh leaders taunted the Opposition leaders, saying they were the same people who opposed construction of the temple and questioned the veracity and sanctity of the birthplace of Lord Ram.

Former national convenor of Bajrang Dal Prakash Sharma hit out at Sanjay Singh, saying his party has the old habit of making sensational allegations.