Ayodhya Theft Triggers Poll-Time Hope for Opposition

It has all the makings of a first-rate political scandal that could unseat governments. The Ayodhya Ram temple donation scam is one such case, with all the ingredients in abundance ––– shockingly brazen theft of public money, the involvement of politicians linked to the governing party, and the targeting of a high-profile place of worship. Worst of all, the donation case symbolises the rot within the sanctum sanctorum of religious identity politics that propelled the Sangh Parivar to power.

The next round of assembly polls is just around the corner, with Punjab, Goa, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand scheduled to go to polls in March 2027 or earlier. The terms of the UP and Uttarakhand assemblies end only in May, but there is speculation that elections will be held simultaneously in all these states. In that event, the Ayodhya donation theft is expected to play out in the poll campaign, not just in UP and Uttarakhand, but also by cornering the BJP leadership.

It was the political mobilisation over a temple in Ayodhya, against the presence of the medieval Babri mosque at the birthplace of the Hindu deity Ram, that established the BJP as a prime political force in the country, helping the party come to power in North Indian states and then at the Centre in 1998. The Ram temple in Ayodhya remains a powerful metaphor for the rise of Hindutva as an electoral strategy, which gradually gained momentum and helped the BJP achieve a simple majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The idea of a temple built to celebrate Hindu revival is now under a cloud because of the worst possible scandal. Money and jewellery donated by believers have allegedly been stolen by those entrusted with their collection, counting, and safekeeping. A hurriedly constituted special investigation team has arrested eight employees of the Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, constituted by the Union government in 2020. All this has happened within two years of the consecration of the temple on January 22, 2024.

The bhumi pujan, or foundation stone-laying ceremony, of the temple was performed by the Prime Minister on August 5, 2020. Soon, construction work began in full swing despite allegations of corruption in land acquisition, compensation and real estate speculation linked to the temple project and the city’s infrastructure. The grand opening ceremony was timed just three months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The PM led the pran pratishtha (consecration) rituals with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and others standing by.

The polls proved disastrous for the BJP in UP, where it struggled to win just 33 out of 80 seats, down from 71 in 2014 and 62 in 2019, leaving the party short of a simple majority in the Lok Sabha. Its total tally was just 240. The 32-seat shortfall was roughly equal to the number of sitting seats it lost in UP. The most dramatic loss came in Faizabad constituency, within which the Ayodhya temple falls. Lallu Singh, one of the original accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case and the sitting MP of Faizabad, lost to the Samajwadi Party’s local MLA Awadhesh Prasad.

Was UP teaching the BJP a lesson for ignoring allegations involving land acquisition, compensation and real estate speculation? It is easy for any analyst to jump to that conclusion, particularly in the context of Lallu Singh’s loss. Much was made of the differences of opinion within the larger Sangh Parivar and the RSS’s anger over its chief getting sidelined during the opening rituals. The then-BJP president also proclaimed that the party no longer needed the RSS to win polls.

All of it could have contributed to the BJP having to depend on its NDA allies to regain power; the Samajwadi Party (SP) grabbing 37 seats in UP; the Congress winning six; and Rahul Gandhi’s emphatic victory in Rae Bareli with a larger margin than that of Modi’s in Varanasi. While Rahul won by 390, 030 votes, Modi’s margin was only 152,513 votes in 2024, down from 479,505 in 2019.

In the context of these numbers and the BJP’s steep electoral fall just two years ago, the temple donation theft ought to trigger anxiety in the saffron camp, particularly with the SP, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party launching a scathing attack on the prime minister. The Congress has pointed out that the trust was constituted and its trustees were handpicked by the Union government. Congress UP chief Ajay Rai was detained in Ayodhya while attempting to stage a protest. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, reeling under allegations of sacrilege involving Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, has also targeted the prime minister and the home minister, holding back-to-back press conferences.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has suddenly turned a Ram devotee after being regarded as a protector of the Babri mosque. While campaigning against the state and central governments over the NEET question paper leak and other issues concerning students and jobless youth, Akhilesh immediately grabbed the opportunity offered by the temple donation theft case. Late last week, he wrote on X: “With devotion and integrity, we take this pledge that by forming a new government, we shall develop Ayodhya into a peerless and inimitable sacred city.” He also promised, in unmistakably hyper-religious terms, to create a new “Siyaram Dham”.

The trust’s General Secretary Champat Rai and another trustee, Anil Mishra, have stepped down, and the investigation has uncovered large amounts of cash and instances of money laundering. Yogi’s bulldozers are set to move into the under-construction house of one of the accused. Whether a fast-tracked investigation culminating in an early chargesheet and trial can erase the Ayodhya taint from the BJP remains to be seen. The next UP elections are likely to be fought largely between Yogi and Akhilesh, with the chief minister retaining an advantage because of his relatively clean personal image. Even so, the Ayodhya scandal may prove to be a tough test for Yogi.