Amid the raging row over the alleged theft of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Congress on Friday pushed for its demands that the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust be dissolved, a Supreme Court-monitored probe be conducted, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi break his "silence" on the issue.
The opposition party also demanded a public accounting of the nearly Rs 1,400 crore collected in donations for the construction of the temple before the formation of the trust.
Congress leader Ragini Nayak questioned why the Special Investigation Team (SIT) report was not being made public.
"Who exactly are they trying to protect in the end? Narendra Modi took full credit for the Ram Temple, but today he remains silent on the theft of offerings... when he took the credit, he must also take responsibility. This is a betrayal of the people's trust," Nayak said at a press conference here.
Reiterating the party's demands, Nayak said the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust should be dissolved immediately, its operations and financial transactions investigated under the supervision of the Supreme Court, and Modi should "break his silence" on the alleged theft of donations.
"A public accounting of the approximately Rs 1,400 crore in donations collected in the name of Ram Mandir construction before the formation of the trust should be disclosed," the Congress spokesperson said.
Nayak alleged that in major cases, small people get arrested, while the "big fish" are let off the hook.
"But now, in the Ram Temple donation theft case, some BJP goons are saying that this is our internal matter, we'll handle it ourselves. But they forgot that in the temple, from the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich in the country, everyone contributed donations according to their means; this doesn't belong to anyone personally," she said.
"Today, Narendra Modi is sitting tight-lipped on the donation theft, whereas he should come forward and answer to the public," she said.
Nayak claimed that 70 thefts occurred in 40 days at the Ram Temple, there was no backup of CCTV footage, no information is available on how many thefts occurred in the last five years, and no FIR has been filed against Champat Rai, who has resigned from the trust.
"Could this be possible without the government's protection?" she asked.
The alleged embezzlement came to light after an SIT constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government submitted its preliminary findings, following which an FIR was registered on June 25.
Eight accused were subsequently arrested, and police said nearly Rs 80 lakh in cash, besides some foreign currency, has been recovered so far from six of them. The investigation is continuing.
