The Ram Temple embezzlement case revolves around the alleged misappropriation of cash and valuables contributed by devotees at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Photo credit: X/NarendraModi/YT via PTI
The arrest of eight people in connection with the alleged embezzlement of donation money at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is an event with repercussions both within the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-led Sangh Parivar and outside it, especially with the Assembly election due in Uttar Pradesh early next year.The most obvious repercussion for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Sangh Parivar is, of course, the loss of a moral high ground.The Ramjanmabhoomi movement catapulted the BJP to power, and the RSS and its frontal organisations closer to their ideological goal of cultural nationalism around the Hindu religion. The sordidness of the embezzlement issue has led to questions about the integrity of those who spearheaded the movement to build the Ram Temple in place of the Babri Masjid. This is despite the fact that the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, and the working president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Alok Kumar, were among the first to demand the filing of a First Information Report in the matter.Hindutva and its advocates will have to come up with answers to questions that are becoming inconvenient by the day — on who knew about the wrongdoing and to what extent — even if they were not involved in the actual embezzlement. With Assembly elections due from early next year, the BJP will have swiftly investigate, identify and prosecute the wrongdoers in order to go into the polls with something to say on the issue.
