New Delhi: The Congress launched a fresh political offensive against the BJP on Tuesday over the alleged pilferage of offerings at the Ram temple, accusing the party of shielding those behind the “donation theft” and pressing for a probe overseen by the Supreme Court, PTI reported.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said devotees’ contributions could not be treated as beyond public scrutiny, insisting that the scale of the alleged irregularities required answers from those in the highest positions of authority.
‘Chanda Chori, Aastha Dhokha’
In a Hindi post on X, Ramesh directly sought a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ajay Singh Bisht.
“Chanda Chori, Aastha Dhokha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ajay Singh Bisht—break your silence! The nation wants to know: who are the ‘chanda chors’? Who are their accomplices? Why is there no impartial investigation under the supervision of the Supreme Court?” he said.
He alleged that warnings had been ignored, commissions had been taken in contracts, the true scale of misappropriation remained unclear and valuable offerings had not been properly accounted for.
Audit Red Flags Ignored
Ramesh said a private audit firm had raised concerns about the temple trust’s functioning as early as November 2020, months after it was constituted on February 5, 2020. According to him, the firm had described the management as “highly unprofessional”, pointed to the absence of clearly assigned responsibilities and flagged the lack of a systematic record of donations.
“He recalled that the firm also warned about unprofessional staffing and poor data management and recommended the implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for data handling, personnel and maintenance of a proper stock register for donations,” the Congress leader said, adding that no such procedures had been put in place even years later.
He further claimed that the Special Investigation Team, set up by the government in 2026, had been forced to accept that cash was taken out of the counting room on 105 occasions, with employees allegedly blocking camera views. Ramesh described the SIT as “ostensibly” created to cover up the affair.
‘Who Was Being Protected?’
The Congress leader also referred to allegations by engineer Dinanath Verma, who claimed he was removed after he told Champat Rai that a 40 per cent commission was being extracted from contracts, “ghost workers” were being listed and material quantities inflated in bills.
Ramesh said the investigation had found several valuable donated items for which donors were never issued receipts. He asked why no corrective action followed the 2020 warnings, why the complainant was removed and why receipts were absent for precious offerings.
“While the thieves continued their theft, those associated with the RSS-BJP—who once proclaimed, ‘Main bhi chowkidar’ remained fast asleep! This cannot be a mere coincidence!” he said.
Ramesh questioned whether the situation reflected negligence or a deliberate effort to protect the accused, demanding an impartial inquiry into who was shielded and who was complicit.
“The people of this country have no faith in an investigation conducted by your government’s SIT. When, despite warnings, formal complaints, and 105 incidents captured on CCTV, serious questions remain regarding the role of those in positions of high responsibility, how can the entire matter be considered resolved simply by taking action against a few low-level employees?” he said.