Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 15

With Opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party, the Congress, and the Aam Aadmi Party cornering the ruling BJP over allegations of “corruption in the acquisition of the piece of land by the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra”, the issue has the potential to become a major political issue in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh elections, next year.

Former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday asked members of the Trust overseeing the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya to resign until cleared of the allegations. Yadav said the allegations involve “crores of rupees and required a ‘nishpaksh’ (neutral) investigation”.

“If question marks are being put on those assigned with overseeing the work for Lord Ram, they should resign till the investigation is on,” he said.

Sources, meanwhile, say Chief Minister Adityanath had sought information from functionaries and is “satisfied with the response/ report”. General Secretary of the trust, Champat Rai, too called as “politically motivated” all the allegations, and gave a detailed response on the deal and other projects. The Trust is accused of buying land worth Rs 2 crore for Rs 18.5 crore amid allegations that “no permission for the acquisition was also taken in any meeting”.

Meanwhile, Sultan Ansari, a party to the final deal of the land, also claimed that the land agreement with the Trust was “transparent and that the financial dealings were closed using banking methods”.

However, with the state set for Assembly polls, the controversy has assumed political significance. Calling it a “serious matter”, political analyst Sudhir Panwar says the allegations “not only questioned the rhetoric of BJP-RSS that Ram temple is an issue of faith for them but eroded the confidence of those who contributed and collected funds for the temple in Ayodhya”. 

“There also needs to be better explanations than the arrogant reply by Mr Champat Rai yesterday,” says Panwar who is also associated with the SP. “Mentioning of Mahatma Gandhi's murder without any reference by him was not only diversionary tactics but indicative of arrogance. It is the duty of individuals and organisations associated with the construction of Shri Ram Temple to prove their innocence before the public to uphold the public faith on cultural and religious organisations,” he said.

Meanwhile, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who has sought a probe by the CBI and the ED into the matter, today claimed his residence in high-security North Avenue was vandalised because of his stance. Blaming the “BJP” for the  “attack ” , Singh said he will “not allow anyone to steal the money meant for the construction of the temple for Shri Ram”. “I will not be intimidated. I will continue to expose this scam being done in the name of prabhu Shri Ram,” said Singh, who belongs to Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh.