The Congress on Tuesday termed the alleged theft of donations at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya a “cardinal sin", targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the controversy and demanded a probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge.
The party said the Prime Minister must own responsibility for the alleged irregularities just as he had claimed credit for the temple project “from the Shilanyas to Pran Patishtha".
Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesperson and chairperson of the party’s Social Media and Digital Platforms department, Supriya Shrinate, described the alleged theft as “an attack on the faith of Hindus all over the world" and questioned the Prime Minister’s silence on the issue.
“This isn’t just some donation theft or scam, this is a cardinal sin, an attack on the faith of Hindus all over the world," Shrinate said.
Seeking a probe monitored by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, she said the Uttar Pradesh government could not be trusted to investigate the matter impartially.
“The culprit, prosecutor and the judge cannot be the same person," she remarked.
Shrinate alleged that there were attempts to shield the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and questioned why the report of the Special Investigation Team probing the matter had not been made public.
Calling it “not an ordinary theft", she said it was “an attack on the faith of over one billion Hindus and the soul of the nation" and accused the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government of acting against lower-level employees while protecting senior functionaries.
“When the theft has indeed taken place inside the Ram Temple, what is the government trying to hide? The SIT report should be uploaded on a public website so that every citizen can know the truth," she said.
Referring to media reports, Shrinate said CCTV footage had documented around 70 theft incidents over nearly 40 days and questioned the scale of the alleged theft over the previous five-and-a-half years.
“The available footage covers only about 40 days because older CCTV footage no longer exists. Who will account for the previous five-and-a-half years?" she asked.
She said reports suggested that around Rs 80 lakh had been recovered and questioned where the remaining donations had gone.
“Can employees earning modest salaries really have orchestrated such a large operation on their own? It is impossible without the involvement of higher authorities," she observed, adding that the government had arrested only the “pawns in the game" while allowing the “big fish" to escape.
Questioning the resignation of Trust general secretary Champat Rai, Shrinate asked why no FIR had been registered against senior functionaries.
