Ram Mandir Theft, Hindu Nationalism, And Politics

The cash theft at Ram Mandir that dominates national and international media headlines, has escalated into a massive political controversy, recalling the ideological conflicts of the 1990s. Just as the Mandir movement assumed immense political significance then, the theft at the temple too has gained political traction with the assembly elections in UP, the nerve centre of the Mandir movement, just months away.

While this political interest is natural and understandable, the situation today presents a stark difference. The Mandir movement then did not have to face today’s hyper-competitive, minute-by-minute breaking news media. When such a frenzied media apparatus mixes with political agendas, truth can be uncovered only by taking a helicopter view that avoids the narratives arrested by contextual sensationalism.

Ram’s Opponents Now His Devotees

The theft has miraculously transformed the erstwhile opponents of Ram Mandir into his ardent devotees chanting “Jai Shri Ram”. The Congress party, which boycotted the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony in 2024, dispatched a nine-member high-level delegation for Ram Lala’s darshan last week. Even if driven by pure political opportunism, this is a welcome development, as Mahatma Gandhi, whom it swears by, regarded “Ram Naam” as cure for all ills, national and personal.

Arvind Kejriwal, who had boycotted the 2024 Mandir ceremony, too has undergone instant metamorphosis into a Ram Bhakt, declaring that the theft had deeply pained all Sanatanis and announcing his Friday visit for darshan. Most ironically, when Mulayam Singh Yadav was Chief Minister in 1990, he ordered the police to fire and kill 16 kar sevaks and later proudly declared he would have issued the same order even if 30 had to die. Today, his Samajwadi Party sheds tears, claiming Ram Bhakts have been cheated.

The overexcited Indian media competing for breaking news, too joined this political chorus. One media predicted long-term damage to the BJP. Another claimed this was a severe setback to BJP’s promise of Ram Rajya—the gold standard of probity in governance.

Capitalising on the geopolitical significance of the temple, global media entities with a history of anti-India and anti-Hindu bias, the Reuters, BBC, and Al-Jazeera, painted the incident as if it were a billion-dollar heist. “Stealing from the gods: India’s Ram Temple hit by corruption scandal. The temple is mired in embezzlement allegations before crucial state elections, embarrassing PM Modi’s government,” screamed Al-Jazeera.

A Theft — Not Corruption Or A Scam

What has happened at the Ram Mandir is a theft. A pilferage easily executed by lower-level staff handling cash. Not a corruption or a scam. It would be corruption only if the top management had attempted to hush it up. On the contrary, within days of the theft coming to light, the higher-ups initiated severe, uncompromising action. There was no sign of an institutional cover-up which only will make it a scam.

Theft happens everywhere. To know the times we live in, one must recall Swami Chinmayananda’s observation: “In the Krita Yuga, good and evil lived in different worlds (Devas and Asuras). In Treta Yuga, they existed in the same world (Ram and Ravana). In Dwapara Yuga, they were in the same family (Pandavas and Kauravas). But in Kali Yuga, they exist within the same human being.” We live in Kali Yuga, where good and evil reside simultaneously in man.

When desire and greed overpower even inherently good people, crimes can occur in the most sacred of spaces—be it churches, mosques or temples. Stealing from a temple Hundi (donation box) is notoriously easy. As the C P Ramaswami Iyer Committee report on temple administration astutely noted, money dropped into a Hundi is sacred, but the moment it is taken out, it becomes mere currency notes. It was based on this very logic that the judiciary permitted secular governments to take over temple funds.

The true metric of integrity in any institution is not the absence of wrong doing—which is ideal—but the speed and decisiveness with which authorities respond to it. Covering up a theft is what constitutes corruption and fraud—usually orchestrated to protect higher-ups. The Bofors scandal was exposed in 1987. As it involved the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, no FIR was registered till he was ousted from power. It was filed three years later, in 1990, after he was voted out. Let us examine the Ram Temple Trust’s actions against this historical backdrop of cover-ups in recent cases of theft in temples involving the government as trustee.

The Ram Mandir theft is undoubtedly shocking and painful to anyone who cares about the nation’s reputation symbolised by the geopolitical reputation of the Mandir. Yet, the tsunami of hyperbolic news and allegations that obscured crucial facts, have unfairly cast an avoidable shadow on the national brand. Even neutral commentators have sadly failed to notice the sheer speed at which the Trust and the UP government acted, which was in direct contrast to similar instances of temple thefts, but was drowned out in the noise.

Speed Of Action: Govt Temple Trusts Versus Ram Mandir Trust

Recall the allegations of property misappropriation and idol thefts in government-administered temples in Sabarimala, Thiruvananthapuram, Puri, and Tamil Nadu. Comparing the response of the government bodies to that of the Ram Temple Trust reveals the stark difference between the Ram Mandir trust response and government-controlled Trusts in those cases. It doesn’t need turning the pages of decades of history. Today, the AI tool brings the history with references on the computer screen.

When AI tool Gemini was prompted to compare the scenarios of how the Ram Mandir Trust and government Trusts in those cases acted, it replied: “Compared to how governments blocked and delayed action on allegations in temples under their control, the Ram Temple Trust’s swift action is astonishingly different.”

It noted that in cases like Sabarimala, Puri, and the Tamil Nadu idol thefts, the sheer inaction of government boards forced courts to intervene and order probes, delaying justice by years, sometimes decades. In stark contrast, the Ram Temple Trust requested the UP government to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) within days of the crime coming to light.

The AI rightly summarised: “Driven by its ideology and self-esteem, the Ram Mandir Trust took immediate action. Conversely, government Trusts acted sluggishly in a bid to protect their systems and bureaucracy.” (The very ideology that some media claimed would be tainted by this theft is precisely what catalysed such uncompromising action.)

The AI tool also said, “Furthermore, top officials of the Ram Temple took moral responsibility and resigned immediately. In government temple scandals, officials not only cling to their posts but fight legal battles using taxpayer money to protect their positions.” It concluded: Everything regarding the Ram Mandir theft — from the SIT probe to the official report and mass arrests — happened in a matter of days.

Further, it said “the Trust voluntarily submitted its finances to a comprehensive five-year re-audit. Government-run temples routinely dodge external audits citing tradition or autonomy.” An AI savvy 10th class student could have done this comparison by ing the laptop mouse, which the multi trillion dollar global and India media in its excitement failed to do.

The unprecedented actions by the Ram Mandir Trust also clearly imply that this was a low-level theft, not a high-level scam. For political leaders, aided by the media, to suspect it as a high level affair is a tragedy. Now let us turn to the “stark contrast” in facts of the Ram Mandir Trust’s action as compared to the temple Trusts mentioned.

June 4 to 26: A Timeline Of Lightning-Speed Action

It is baffling that the media missed this stark contrast: government trusts covering up wrongs till courts intervene versus the Ram Mandir Trust acting against the wrong voluntarily, at lightning speed. See the chronology of facts:

June 4: First clue emerges. An unclaimed bag containing `2 lakh in cash found in a washroom in the Mandir complex. Trust officials immediately begin reviewing CCTV footage.

June 5: General Secretary Champat Rai orders an internal probe targeting key suspect Avinash Shukla. His house is raided, and `58 lakh is recovered before the police even arrive. Rai struck first against a man in his own inner circle. This severe crackdown terrified other accomplices into quietly depositing stolen money back into bank accounts, leading the Trust to believe for a while that the issue could be resolved internally.

June 7: News of the recovery leaks, sparking wild rumours of stolen gold and silver. Rai, relying on preliminary assessments that the money could be fully recovered internally, states that audits showed no significant discrepancies.

June 13: Realising that assessment was wrong, the Trust formally requests the UP government to set up a high-level SIT probe. This six-day stagnation was the only delay in the entire action.

June 25: SIT probe reveals that Manish Yadav, a cash counter employee, repeatedly stole money by exploiting CCTV blind spots. An FIR is registered. Midnight raids are conducted with lightning speed into the early hours of June 26, resulting in eight arrests.

June 26: Taking absolute moral responsibility for the administrative lapses, General Secretary Champat Rai and Trustee Anil Mishra resign.

Rai, an RSS pracharak who has dedicated his entire life to the nation, is a symbol of honesty and integrity. The media unfortunately drags him into the controversy, not mentioning that he was the first to initiate action ahead of the police.

Tomorrow, read how the theft may be less than half of `7.5 crore suspected by SIT, how pseudo-secular political forces are trying to weaponise the Mandir theft to smear the Hindu nationalist perspective, and how their chances of finding resonance in battleground UP are slim.

(This article was first published in The New Indian Express.)