The Congress on Monday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being involved in an alleged case of land corruption in Ayodhya in connection with the Ram temple, with the ‘grand old party’ claiming that the BJP “has been stealing” from the donations to the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust.
“We have been raising this matter since June 2021 that there has been huge corruption over Ayodhya’s land. There have been [reports of] theft in donations that came to the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust…this is not done by any land mafia, but BJP leaders who became mafias in Ayodhya. The Ayodhya Development Authority that comes under the Uttar Pradesh government had to accept this in the end,” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said at a press conference.
She was referring to the list of 40 people whose names were released in the alleged land corruption case, and the Congress spokesperson claimed that the list named BJP MLA from Ayodhya Ved Prakash Gupta, mayor Rishikesh Upadhyay and former MLA Gorakhnath.
Shrinate also pointed out three key points related to the case – first, “BJP bought land at cheap rates and sold them to the Trust at a higher price; second, apart from the 70-acre land sold to the Trust, the surrounding land was sold at a cheap rate to BJP leaders who knew about the blueprint; third, several plots of land were snatched from Dalits, which are under judicial hearings”.
“If this is not messing with faith, if this is not stealing funds, if this is not profiteering, if this is not loot in the name of Lord Ram, then what is loot?” she asked, adding that the Congress has been demanding a thorough investigation.
“An investigation is on. The authenticity of the list in circulation is still not known. The findings of the investigation will be before everyone. So, why hurry to jump to a conclusion,” Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesman Avnish Tyagi reacted.
The Congress also demanded that the Supreme Court must take cognisance of the matter.