Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh alleged that the BJP leaders should apologise to the public for cheating them in the purchase of land for Ram Mandir Teerth Kshetra Trust and demanded to realise the donation which was misappropriated.
Addressing a press conference in Lucknow on Monday, UP incharge of AAP, Singh said that the embezzlement in the donation collected from lakhs of the devotees had delayed the temple construction work.
“While BJP leaders were getting lands at lower price in Ayodhya, the Trust was being sold the land at an exorbitant price (nearly four to twelve times the rate in the first sale deed). The BJP leaders claim themselves to be Rambhakts but the land scam has only exposed their hypocrisy as they committed corruption in the name of Lord Sri Ram temple,” he said. Sharing his experience while meeting with saints in Ayodhya on the issue, Singh said that Mahant Dilip Das became emotional while describing about Lord Sri Ram. “Mahant Das told me that the saints are emotionally attached with Lord Ram, they served them and have highest reverence for Lord Ram. One of the witnesses in the land deal, Anil Mishra was appointed as member of the Trust by PM Narendra Modi.”
“Mishra was, however, busy in getting his majestic house constructed. His house is the only the building in Ayodhya where a lift is installed,” he said.
Referring to another land deal, Singh pointed out, “Brij Mohan Das sold the land valued at `92 lakh to Champat Rai on May 23 and the same land was then sold to the Trust for `5.6 crore within 24 hours and ironically the witnesses in both land deals were same persons which naturally raise question marks on the genuinity of the process.”Meanwhile, national secretary of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) Anil Dubey said that the Ayodhya land scam was a very unfortunate and unbecoming issue of the present time and said that those involved in corruption in construction of the temple for Lord Ram had no right to remain members of the Trust.
He asked the Central government to dissolve the Trust and initiate legal action against the persons involved in the scam. Dubey said that Lord Ram had opted to 14 year of exile on being asked by his step mother and had even given weight to the washerman’s allegation to save the dignity of his kingliness and to present an example before the subjects. “Lord Ram is called Maryada Purushottam for his high moral conduct. A scam in the name of such a dignified Lord was not only an unfortunate incident but also was cheating with the trust of devotees spread around the world,” he said.
The Communist Party of India (Marxists), UP unit, said on Monday that the land scam in Ram Mandir Teerth Kshetra Trust was betrayal of the trust of the public. In a press statement, state CPI secretary Heera Lal Yadav said that the Trust members purchased a land valued as Rs 2 crore for Rs 18.5 crore within five minutes after the first sale deed. “Another scam related to the sale of government land has come to light. In this scam, a relative of BJP’s Mayor of Rishikesh purchased a land for Rs 2 lakh and sold it for Rs 2 crore to the trust. Devotees donated open-heartedly for the construction of the majestic Ram temple but they were cheated by the Trust members, the BJP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders. The Trust was formed at the instruction of the Supreme Court and so a probe monitored by the apex court should be done in the case,” Yadav said.
