Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak on Friday fumed over the ongoing controversy on the alleged embezzlement of donations made to the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. He claimed no one is asking about the status of funds collected for the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
“The Babri Masjid also collected donations. Nobody is asking what happened to that money. The Samajwadi Party and the Congress are only indulging in appeasement politics and attacking Sanatan Dharma to woo Muslim voters,” Brajesh Pathak said.
He also alleged illegal activities, including “terror funding” in madrasas. “In our border districts, what is going on in the madrasas? What are the maulanas doing there? People should think about that as well,” he said.
It was not clear if he was talking about the mosque demolished in 1992 or about the alternative land provided for a mosque after the disputed plot was awarded to the Hindu side for a temple in 2019. The designated plot is located in Dhannipur, approximately 18 kilometers from the original Babri Masjid site. There was also a controversy in Bengal recently when a later-expelled TMC leader called for making a Babri Masjid-style mosque there.
The Ram Mandir’s Pran Pratishtha ceremony took place in January 2024, years after the Supreme Court’s verdict in 2019 on the land parcel where the Babri Masjid was demolished by a mob in 1992.
In the same ruling, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre and the UP government to allot 5 acres of land elsewhere for the construction of a new mosque. The court had said that the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 was unlawful.
What is the donation controversy in Ayodhya?
The controversy surrounding the donations to the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya escalated following allegations levelled by a Samajwadi Party MLA, who said that donations worth nearly ₹7.5 crore were stolen.
Amid mounting criticism from the Opposition and a plea filed in court seeking a probe into the allegations, the UP government ordered the formation of a Special Investigative Team (SIT) which was tasked with submitting its final report.
On Thursday, an FIR was filed based on a complaint by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Trust. Eight arrests have been made in the case so far – Ramashankar Yadav, alias Tinnu, an aide to the trust’s general secretary, Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Karunesh Pandey, Manish Yadav, Lavkush Mishra, Ramashankar Mishra, and Subhash Srivastava, a retired bank employee who was in charge of counting donations.
The temple trust’s general secretary Champat Rai was also questioned by the SIT last week in connection with the case.
UP minister hits back at Opposition
In his remarks on Friday, UP deputy CM Brajesh Pathak accused the Opposition of doing appeasement politics.
Opposition parties have alleged that the case names only lower-level employees while shielding senior functionaries. Asked about this charge, Pathak said police would conduct a fair investigation and the BJP government followed a policy of “zero tolerance” towards corruption.
“Are you in the police or are we? The police will investigate the matter impartially,” he said.
