The Congress on Tuesday intensified its attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the alleged theft of donations and offerings at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, calling its leaders “chanda chors” (donation thieves) and demanding accountability for funds contributed by devotees. The opposition party said religious faith could not be used to avoid scrutiny and called for an independent investigation supervised by the Supreme Court. The BJP and the individuals named in the allegations were not reported to have responded to the latest remarks in the available accounts.

Source: The Indian Witness

Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over their alleged silence on the controversy. In a post on X titled “Chanda Chori, Aastha Dhokha” (donation theft, faith betrayed), he wrote: “Theft of funds dedicated to God, that is, the theft of donations and offerings to deities, is considered a grave sin,” and accused the government of trying to suppress the matter and shield those responsible — allegations the party first pressed on Sunday in statements reported by PTI and ANI.

Source: PTI via SahilOnline

What the Congress is demanding

Ramesh said the investigation should establish the full extent of the alleged misappropriation, examine concerns raised in audits and investigate claims of commissions in contracts, alongside a complete accounting of valuable donations received by the temple. The Congress referred to what it described as a November 2020 internal audit-related recommendation — months after the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust was established on 5 February 2020 — in which, according to Ramesh, a private audit firm raised concerns about internal auditing, risk management and the absence of clearly defined responsibilities, and alleged the Trust did not maintain a systematic record of donations. Ramesh has also cited a figure of Rs 3,264 crore (yaani about Rs 32.64 billion) collected through the 2021 Nidhi Samarpan campaign and corpus donations.

Rs 3,264 croreDonations the Congress says were collected in the 2021 Nidhi Samarpan campaign and corpus — yaani about Rs 32.64 billion
Rs 2 crore → Rs 18.5 croreThe land-deal price jump the Congress alleges in a March 2021 transaction — an allegation, not a finding
8Donation-counting staff the Congress says were arrested in the cash-offerings case, per its earlier statements

On the alleged theft of cash offerings inside the temple, the Congress has cited a video that it says reached former Trust general secretary Champat Rai on 4 June 2026, and questioned why an FIR was registered only on 25 June. It has criticised the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe and alleged that senior figures associated with the Trust were not adequately examined; in earlier statements the party claimed eight people involved in counting donations had been arrested. The Congress has separately demanded the public release of findings on disputed land transactions, alleging that land bought for Rs 2 crore on 18 March 2021 was transferred to the Trust for Rs 18.5 crore (yaani Rs 185 million) within minutes. These remain allegations raised by the Congress; their validity, and any individual's responsibility, must be established through the investigative and legal process.

Source: ANI via Daily Prabhat

The latest attack lands as Uttar Pradesh prepares for Assembly elections expected in early 2027, placing the temple-donations controversy inside a wider Congress-BJP contest in the state. The Congress maintains that a Supreme Court-supervised probe is needed to address concerns about impartiality and public confidence, and that devotees who contributed money and valuables deserve a full accounting of how their offerings were collected, recorded and managed.