Ram Temple donation theft: Congress demands Supreme Court-monitored probe

“Not every BJP worker is a thief, but every thief who stole donation money from the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is from the BJP,” senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said on Sunday (August 2, 2026), while demanding a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the alleged financial irregularities.

He was speaking at a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi.

“I hail from the Awadh region myself, and between 1985 and 1990, I served as the Tourism Minister in the Uttar Pradesh government. I have witnessed the Ram Janmabhoomi movement from very close quarters,” Mr. Tiwari said at the press conference. He claimed that the recent alleged theft of donations, in which eight persons were arrested, was not the first case of embezzlement. “The corruption can be traced back to the 1980s, when shila pujan (foundation stone laying ceremony) was conducted,” he said.

Describing the SIT constituted to investigate the matter as a “sham”, Mr. Tiwari claimed that the person heading the probe was himself under criminal investigation. He alleged that seers and saints were excluded from the Ram Mandir Trust, while individuals associated with the BJP and the RSS were inducted instead.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Tiwari said, had personally selected every member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and, therefore, could not evade accountability for the alleged theft of temple offerings. He questioned, “If Modi ji has claimed credit for this, how can he absolve himself of the sins committed by the very people to whom he entrusted the responsibility?”

Mr. Tiwari, the Congress’ Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha, added that the BJP was trying to make people forget the theft of offerings, but would ultimately have to answer for it. He laid the blame directly on former general secretary of the temple trust Champat Rai, accusing him of institutionalising the “theft”.

The Opposition would continue to raise the issue in Parliament, Mr. Tiwari said, adding that without an independent investigation under the supervision of the Supreme Court, the true culprits would never be identified.