Reacting to the stormy proceedings on the second day of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly’s Monsoon session on Tuesday, Opposition parties accused the BJP government of deliberately sidestepping a discussion on the alleged theft of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Leaders of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress claimed they had submitted notices seeking a debate under relevant assembly rules but were denied the opportunity.
Speaking to the media after the presentation of the supplementary budget, senior SP leader and MLA Shivpal Yadav alleged that “an atmosphere of dictatorship prevails in the House” and that the session had been convened “solely to facilitate the plundering of the budget.” He insisted that issues related to the theft of temple offerings and alleged budget misappropriation must be discussed before any further proceedings.
“The government is running away from discussion on the looting of donations at the Ram Temple. Why won’t they listen to the Opposition and hold a discussion?” Yadav asked. He also questioned the need for a supplementary budget when several departments had allegedly spent less than 20% of their allocated funds, claiming the government only wanted to “loot the budget.”
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’ echoed the demand, stating that both her party and the SP had given notices for a discussion.
{{/usCountry}}Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’ echoed the demand, stating that both her party and the SP had given notices for a discussion.
{{/usCountry}}“Theft of donations is not a regular issue; it is a matter of faith for crores of people,” she said.
Mishra raised several questions about the handling of the case, including the alleged lack of proper tracking of donations, distorted CCTV footage, the hiring of an agency from Varanasi without prior investigation, and the arrest of only outsourced employees while senior officials of the temple trust remained unanswered.
She noted that more than 50 days had passed since an SIT was constituted with a promise of an interim report in 15 days and a full report in 30 days, yet no findings had been made public.
After being suspended from the UP assembly for the entire Monsoon session, Sachin Yadav, Samajwadi Party MLA from Firozabad, staged a sit-in under the statue of Chaudhary Charan Singh inside the UP assembly premises.
“The government refused to hold a debate on the Ayodhya issue, stating it was not recent. What could be more important than an issue related to Lord Ram and crores of people who have faith in him? BJP members committed theft from the donations at the Ram Temple. An FIR was lodged while saving big names, we demand a discussion on the issue in the House. We are not scared by any expulsion, we will keep raising the people’s issue in the assembly,” Sachin Yadav said, adding that the protest will continue until the government agrees to hold a discussion on the Ayodhya issue.
Apna Dal (K) leader Pallavi Patel, who was elected to the assembly on the SP ticket, said, “It is our responsibility to raise issues related to the public, be it reservation or the fertiliser issue. Another key issue is the donation theft at the Ram temple which has hurt the sentiments of the crores of people. The beauty of democracy is protest and freedom of expression. If anything was objectionable, a notice could have been served instead of expelling an MLA.”