DC Edit | SIT Must Get To Bottom Of Ayodhya Temple Theft

The arrest of eight people associated with the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the resignations of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust secretary Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra amid the ongoing controversy over the alleged embezzlement of donations at the temple raise more questions about the running of the temple than they seek to answer. The BJP which built its political foundation on the temple movement and the government it runs in Uttar Pradesh will also be required to explain what went wrong. The whole episode will also trigger discussions on the handling of the public money that lay with religious institutions and places of worship and the urgency to set up mechanisms to ensure accountability by those who run them.

The theft at the temple shocked not only those who believed in the temple, the deity and the movement that led to its construction after razing a mosque that was standing there for centuries but also those who attached a certain amount of integrity with the people who ran it. Allegations of wrongdoing had been raised against those who are associated with the temple earlier, too, but they pale in front of the latest ones. The special investigation team (SIT) the state government has appointed to investigate it is yet to quantify the theft of donations that belonged to the deity and the temple but reports say they run into thousands of crores of rupees. Valuables and embellishments of the deity which are considered sacred by the devotees are in the list of stolen properties. It is important that the SIT get to the bottom of it and bring before the law all those who are involved in it.

The BJP will be made to answer questions starting from the commitment it has to the deity and its believers. The temple was not the project of the believers; it was that of the Hindutva pracharaks for several decades. It was a tool which the party used to divide Indian society and catapult itself to power. The gamble paid off. This is the time of reckoning for the party as to investigate how genuine its concern was for the cause and what it did to ensure that the interests of the temple and the devotees were protected. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s attempts to portray the demands for proper investigation as an attack on the temple and the deity are unlikely to succeed.

The Hindutva forces often complain about the control of the secular government over temple properties across the country, especially in southern India. They point out that the affairs of the places of worship of other religions are under the total control of the people who belong to those religions. The Ayodhya episode must now force a rethink for them. It has come to the fore because it has an element of public representation in the trust. The larger society must also look into the possibility of instituting similar arrangements for the other religions, too, where handling of funds donated by devotees, who are essentially part of the general public, is subjected to public scrutiny. Transparency in financial matters of their shrines will in no way affect the power of the gods who reside there. It will be a model that can be rolled out across the country covering all religions and their various denominations.