Congress leader Jairam Ramesh. File.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Congress on Friday (July 3, 2026) demanded the dissolution of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust over the donation “theft” at the Ram temple, a Supreme Court-monitored probe, and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi break his “silence” on the issue.The Opposition party also demanded a public accounting of the nearly ₹1,400 crore collected in donations for the construction of the temple before the formation of the trust.Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, “Mr. Prime Minister, when there has been a betrayal of Lord Ram and the public's trust has been breached, what hesitation or arrogance is there in accepting it?” “There is massive anger and outrage across the country against the theft of the donations that took place under the leadership of people from the RSS ecosystem chosen by your government,” Mr. Ramesh said in a post on X.“What you have done was a grave sin indeed, but your silence on this extremely important matter now is a bigger sin,” he said.Congress leader Ragini Nayak questioned why the Special Investigation Team (SIT) report was not being made public.“Who exactly are they trying to protect in the end? Narendra Modi took full credit for the Ram temple, but today he remains silent on the theft of offerings... when he took the credit, he must also take responsibility. This is a betrayal of the people’s trust,” Ms. Nayak said at a press conference here.Reiterating the party’s demands, Ms. Nayak said the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust should be dissolved immediately, its operations and financial transactions investigated under the supervision of the Supreme Court, and Modi should “break his silence” on the alleged theft of donations.“A public accounting of the approximately ₹1,400 crore in donations collected in the name of Ram temple construction before the formation of the trust should be disclosed,” the Congress spokesperson said.Ms. Nayak alleged that in major cases, small people get arrested, while the “big fish” are let off the hook.“But now, in the Ram temple donation theft case, some BJP goons are saying that this is our internal matter; we’ll handle it ourselves. But they forgot that in the temple, from the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich in the country, everyone made donations according to their means; this doesn’t belong to anyone personally,” she said.“Today, Narendra Modi is tight-lipped on the donation theft, whereas he should come forward and answer the public,” she said.Ms. Nayak claimed that 70 thefts occurred in 40 days at the Ram temple. There is no backup of CCTV footage, no information is available on how many thefts occurred in the last five years, and no FIR has been filed against Champat Rai, who has resigned as the trust general secretary.“Could this be possible without the government’s protection?” she asked.The alleged embezzlement came to light after an SIT constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government submitted its preliminary findings, following which an FIR was registered on June 25.Eight accused were subsequently arrested, and police said nearly ₹80 lakh in cash, besides some foreign currency, has been recovered so far from six of them. The investigation is continuing. Published - July 03, 2026 07:50 pm IST
