The political heat has now been expressed across the country over the donations and financial transactions collected for the construction of the Ram temple. The Malkangiri District Congress Committee has dragged the ruling party into a frenzy, alleging that politics in the name of faith and massive loot in the name of favours are not tolerated. In a press release, the District Congress asked whether the donations worth crores of rupees collected in the name of Lord Ram have fallen victim to the political hypocrisy of the BJP-RSS model. The Congress has said that the resignation of the then General Secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Champat Roy, and Trustee Anil Mishra, proves the depth of this corruption. According to the Congress leadership, the poor, farmers, workers and women of the country donated their hard-earned savings for the temple, but today that faith and trust have been killed. If the trust was formed under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), then who is responsible for this massive financial irregularities and if everything was clean, why was the resignation of the top officer of the trust accepted?
The public statement of the Trust Treasurer Govinda Deb Giri and the removal of Special Invitee Member Gopal Rao from the post have exposed the differences within the Trust. In addition, the Congress has raised serious allegations of spending about Rs 113 crore on the Praan Patwari ceremony and about Rs 10.12 crore on the flag hoisting ceremony, using fake receipts and misappropriating cash. The party has said that this is a well-planned grand drama as similar allegations are coming not only from the Ram temple but also from Badrinath Dham.
Prominent leaders of the district were present at this press conference organized to strengthen this voice of the Malkangiri District Congress. Among them were District President G. Srinivas Rao, former MLA Mala Madhi, CRDC’s Govinda Patra, DWC president Padma Pangi, District Council member Krishna Chandra Sagaria, Ratna Podiami, Pushpanjali Kabsa, District Council member Praan Mandal, Municipality President Keshu Rao, and leaders Bhaskar Patra, Parsuram Bhakta, Ganga Madhi, Ishaq Kasal, Arjun Podiami and Santosh Patnaik joined hands and roared against the ruling party.
The Congress committee’s 5-point demand: Prime Minister Narendra Modi should break his silence on the entire incident. An FIR should be registered against all the accused including Champat Roy and Anil Mishra and they should be arrested. An impartial and independent investigation should be conducted under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court. The current controversial trust should be dissolved and a new trust should be formed with religious leaders and independent experts. A complete forensic audit of all donations, bequests and land transactions should be conducted and the report should be made public. Lord Ram is not a member of any particular political party, he is the consciousness of the entire country. Therefore, the District Congress Committee has strongly demanded that the account of every penny of donations should be made public.
