By Nilotpal Basu
Despite the best efforts of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh (UP), a major scandal has exploded on the face of the Hindutva brigade. The biggest political project of the Sangh, which was like a blank cheque for encashment of electoral dividends by the BJP for the last two and a half decades, has ultimately turned out to be their biggest embarrassment.
While the theft and embezzlement by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its ideological foot soldiers have been talked over in muffled voices in the corridors of power, it has now been established beyond any shred of doubt that donations in cash and valuables made to the presiding deity of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya were being stolen on a regular basis. That the repeated thefts were going unnoticed or glossed over has also been noted in some factual detail by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which the state government was forced to appoint following the disclosure of wrongdoing. From media reports, it is clear that theft and some recovery of the stolen cash are prima facie established. However, it is not clear as to how such an outrageous criminal act could be perpetrated for a considerable period of time without anyone taking notice. Another question is whether this could have progressed without any knowledge of the higher ups of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust formed in 2020.
Of course, theft of cash and ornaments dedicated to the deity is a serious enough charge. But, the betrayal of the faith of millions of people is far more serious. The history of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement is now clearly unravelling. In a country like India nobody can deny the role of faith in shaping public perception, if not political opinion. In a way, the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple was the ideological lodestar of the BJP and the Hindutva brigade. The unprecedented exploitation of the religious sentiment of the people to the hilt for political and electoral gains has been the overwhelming feature in the days bygone. Apart from the RSS, the Vishva Hindu Parishad, the union and state governments and even the highest judiciary cannot wash their hands off from these outrageous developments.
That the temple land was acquired after committing an act of vandalism is a fact that has been recognised by the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, D. Y. Chandrachud in his order. The dubious nature of and the brazen self-contradictions within the order had prompted many of us, particularly from the Left, to notice that though the long winding legal controversy was chosen to be put to rest, justice remained undelivered. Even Justice Chandrachud could not feel emboldened enough to defend his order on legal or constitutional grounds! Therefore, he had justified on grounds of divine intervention of the deity to settle the ownership of the title to the very same ‘vandals’! The Supreme Court also paved the way for the creation of the Trust by the union government. It had specifically directed the union government to facilitate the formation of the Trust which will independently run the business related to the construction of the temple and its day to day management.
But to any objective observer, independence under the Modi regime is a delusion – a contradiction in terms – with a self-proclaimed swayamsevak as the Prime Minister. RSS occupies a centrality beyond any doubt. As observed by some commentators, it has a policy of ‘division of labour’. Under such division the wage and its accrual had befallen the VHP which had spearheaded the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation. The composition of the trust was therefore anybody’s guess. Even among the handpicked members, the union government’s nominee was Gyanesh Kumar, the current Chief Election Commissioner, which explains the poll body’s alignment with the BJP.
The involvement of the RSS-BJP was not merely confined to the composition of the trust. The memories of the inauguration of the temple construction, the consecration of the deity and the dhwajarohan were all presided over by the Prime Minister himself. The focal role of Narendra Modi in a deeply religious function had raised eyebrows and questions from even some of the Sankaracharyas. Modi’s official list of ‘achievements’ in the 12 years of his rule would certainly include construction of a ‘bhavya’ Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Such description of course buttresses the fusion of the roles of ‘Chief of Religious Faith’ and ‘Chief of Political Power’ in the single persona of the Prime Minister.
However, the Prime Minister has gone silent. Not even through his X account has he registered his ‘sadness’ over the theft! The current outrageous development is however more damning. In 2020 itself, even before the construction of the temple began, an audit had reportedly raised questions about the manner of book keeping for the project. Other familiar features of his regime were also evident: the conspicuous absence of transparency and accountability. The reports now coming out despite desperate attempts by the mainstream media to hush up confirm this.
It is clear that there was virtual absence of any monitoring system, far less vigilance system. Now the Ayodhya Bar Association is shouting from the rooftop that none of the accused should have access to legal defence. The sordid sequence of developments did not produce even a semblance of any murmurs earlier. It has also been discovered that the CCTV cameras were shut off to enable the act of theft. Could all that take place without complicity at the highest levels?
The state government had initially attempted to brush aside reports, but was forced to take some police action and commission the SIT. But since the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister themselves have been close associates of the Trust, no executive enquiry can be credible. Therefore, immediately a judicial enquiry must be instituted recognizing the faith of the millions of devout followers in whose name the RSS-BJP regime succeeds in the hustings and holds power. This is the least that the rule of law and our constitutional framework demands. (IPA Service)
