Ayodhya, Jun 30 (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai on Tuesday offered prayers at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, where the alleged theft of donations has sparked a major political storm and put the BJP on the backfoot, as the administration allowed him to leave a guest house after nearly 24 hours.
After visiting Hanumangarhi and the temple, Rai, who had alleged that he was put under “house arrest”, said, “An impartial investigation is not happening. The functionaries of the Ram temple must be investigated.” He also demanded that the Ram temple trust be dissolved and that Shankaracharyas, seers and Ayodhya residents get a place in it.
Earlier in the day, Rai and other members of a Congress delegation were prevented from visiting the Ram temple.
Rai had claimed he had been placed under “house arrest” here and that he would not leave Ayodhya until he was allowed to offer prayers at the Ram temple.
According to the Congress leader, members of the party delegation — MPs Kishori Lal Sharma (Amethi), Rakesh Rathor (Sitapur), Ujjwal Raman Singh (Prayagraj) and Tanuj Punia (Barabanki) — travelling separately for Tuesday’s visit were either stopped on the way, confined to their homes or detained by police.
However, there was no official word on the action against them.
“They could not stop the donation theft, but they have stopped us Hindus from offering prayers at the temple. What kind of sanatan tradition is this that prevents people from having darshan?” Amethi MP Sharma asked.
Sharma, former MLC Deepak Singh and around half a dozen other local party leaders were at a hotel since Monday night, an associate of the MP told PTI.
“The police and the administration forcibly brought me to the airport. They did not allow me to pay obeisance. If they stop me today, I will come tomorrow,” Sharma told reporters.
Around two dozen Congress workers, including youth wing leader Sharad Shukla, were detained and taken to police lines when they were holding a sit-in outside the Acharya Narendra Dev University in Kumar Ganj, where Rai remained in a guest house under police watch. They were demanding that the party leaders be allowed to visit the Ram temple, according to police sources.
Former Congress MP Aliya Zubairi was also taken into custody during the protest, the sources said.
Rai said he was moved from a hotel to the government guesthouse at the university around midnight by the police.
“What kind of government is this that is scared of our visiting the Ram temple? I think they have arrested me. Why would they bring me to this guesthouse in the middle of the night and keep me confined here?” Rai told PTI over the phone.
Rai’s wife, Reena Rai, also put out a video statement late Monday, saying her husband had been taken into custody by police and the family had not been informed about his whereabouts.
“The family is worried, and we fear for his safety,” she said.
Congress MP from Prayagraj Ujjwal Raman Singh was also prevented from leaving his Ashok Nagar residence, his aide claimed.
Vinay Kushwaha, a representative of the MP, told PTI over the phone that police personnel had been stationed outside the residence since morning and were not allowing Singh to leave for Ayodhya.
He said the police neither informed them that the MP was under house arrest nor that he had been detained, but continued to prevent him from stepping out.
Rai paid obeisance at the Ram temple on June 18, days after the allegations of embezzlement of donations at the shrine surfaced.
The alleged embezzlement of temple donations has triggered a major political controversy, with opposition parties accusing the BJP and the RSS of betraying Hindus and Lord Ram, and demanding a wider probe.
Asserting that the guilty will not be spared, the BJP has alleged that opposition parties, which never spoke in favour of the Ram temple, are politicising the issue to divide the Hindu community.
Addressing a public meeting in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath targeted the Congress and the Samajwadi Party over the controversy, accusing them of hypocrisy over their “newfound” support for Lord Ram.
“Who is advocating devotion to Lord Ram today? The very people who before 2017 ordered lathi-charges on those raising the slogan ‘Jai Shri Ram’.” “When Ram devotees proclaimed ‘Ram Lalla Hum Aayenge, Mandir Wahin Banayenge’, they were met with bullets. Today, the same people are speaking in the name of faith,” the chief minister said. PTI MAN KIS COR NAV DIV DIV
(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)
