Congress Presses PM Modi To Break His Silence Over Ram Mandir Donation Row Congress leader Jairam Ramesh backed a letter from Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi urging PM Modi to order an independent probe into the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust's donations, as police continue questioning accused in the embezzlement case. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak up over what he described as the Chanda Chori, Aastha Dhoka surrounding the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust in Ayodhya, pressing for accountability as allegations of donation theft continue to roil the temple town just a day before Parliament reconvenes. Ramesh Adds His Voice To The Kharge Gandhi Letter Taking to X, Ramesh threw his weight behind a joint letter that senior party colleagues Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi had already sent to the Prime Minister earlier in the day. In that letter, the two Leaders of Opposition asked Modi to waste no time in ordering an independent and wide ranging inquiry into how the trust has been handling its money. Ramesh argued it made complete sense for the two LOPs to write directly to the Prime Minister on what he called the Chanda Chori Aastha Dhoka tied to the trust running the Ayodhya temple, framing it as a matter serious enough to demand the head of government's personal attention rather than a routine administrative response. The 2020 Lok Sabha Reference Ramesh did not stop at backing the letter. He went further, digging up a moment from February 5, 2020, when Modi made what Ramesh called one of his rare appearances in the Lok Sabha to announce the creation of the trust. According to Ramesh, the Prime Minister had taken personal credit that day for setting the body up, and it is that same trust, he said, which has now shaken the trust that crores of devotees across the country had placed in it. Invoking that history, Ramesh issued a pointed challenge to Modi on social media: "Pradhan Mantri, Chuppi Todo!" His argument was straightforward: if the Prime Minister was willing to claim credit for launching the trust in Parliament, he should be equally willing to speak up now that its functioning has come under a cloud. What The Kharge Gandhi Letter Alleges Hours before Ramesh's post, Kharge and Gandhi's joint letter had laid out a far more detailed set of allegations. It claimed that Modi was aware that thousands of crores of rupees had gone missing from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, leaving lakhs of devotees who had parted with their hard earned savings out of faith and trust feeling let down by the alleged theft. The letter also drew attention to how the trust came into being in the first place. While its formation had been announced in Parliament following directions from the Supreme Court, the letter pointed out that every member of the body had been chosen by the government alone, with no independent selection process involved. It went on to state, "Its disgraced former General Secretary was also your close associate," a line that points toward Champat Rai, who has stepped down from the post of General Secretary as the investigation into the alleged embezzlement of donations proceeds. The letter additionally noted that it is widely known that trust members carry affiliations with the RSS, VHP and related organisations, reinforcing the leaders' argument that the body was never truly independent of the ruling establishment. Kharge and Gandhi described the Prime Minister's continued silence in the face of what they termed an outright crime as simply unacceptable, insisting that ensuring accountability and recovering misused funds was very much his responsibility given his own role in setting the trust up. They pressed him to immediately order a thorough and independent investigation covering every category of offering collected at the temple, whether in cash, gold or silver. They also asked that once the inquiry concluded, both its results and the trust's financial records be opened up for public view, so ordinary devotees could learn exactly where their contributions had gone. Anyone found responsible, the letter said, needed to be held accountable regardless of how powerful or well connected they might be. The two leaders added that how transparently and how fast the Prime Minister responded would decide whether the government and this trust retained any real credibility. The timing of the letter is notable. It arrived just one day ahead of the opening of Parliament's Monsoon Session on July 20, a session in which Congress is widely expected to force the Ram Mandir donation controversy onto the floor of the House. Arrests Continue To Pile Up While the political exchange was playing out in Delhi, the criminal investigation on the ground in Ayodhya kept moving forward. A local court on Friday granted police 39 hours of custody over Ram Shankar Yadav, who also goes by the name Tinnu Yadav, and Manish Yadav in connection with the donation embezzlement case. That order came after Ayodhya Police had approached the court earlier the same day asking for a full seven days of custodial remand for the pair, suggesting investigators believe the two accused hold information crucial to tracing how the funds disappeared. Two other accused had already been through a similar process days earlier. Subhash Chandra Srivastava, a retired bank employee who used to look after how the temple counted its cash donations, and Ramashankar Mishra were taken out of Ayodhya's District Jail on Wednesday for a full day of questioning, after a court gave police fourteen hours to interrogate them in custody. Officials used that window to establish exactly how donations meant for the temple were allegedly siphoned off. The SIT's Preliminary Findings The allegations of misappropriated donations have set off a heated political storm across Uttar Pradesh, prompting the state to set up a Special Investigation Team dedicated to examining the irregularities. The SIT's preliminary findings, still at an early stage, indicate that investigators have so far identified around 70 suspicious incidents captured on CCTV cameras between April 27 and June 5, 2026, with the footage said to show counting staff hiding bundles of cash during the process. Beyond those specific incidents, the preliminary report also flags a series of systemic lapses that investigators believe made the alleged theft possible in the first place. These include the complete absence of frisking of staff at entry and exit points, weak oversight of personal belongings carried into the counting area, and a practice of pooling cash collected from multiple separate donation boxes together before it was counted, making it far harder to track discrepancies back to any single source. So far, investigators have recovered close to Rs 78.94 lakh from some of the employees implicated in the case even before the formal investigation got fully underway. Investigators also say a further Rs 2.25 lakh turned up in a washroom beside the cash-counting area, recovered on June 4, 2026, adding another troubling detail to an already expanding case. What this means for you The row is directly tied to how ordinary devotees' donations are handled and to the ongoing criminal investigation in Uttar Pradesh. • Across India: Devotees who donate at temples nationwide may see renewed demands for transparent accounting of offerings. • In Uttar Pradesh: The Ayodhya investigation, the arrests and the looming Parliament debate could push changes to temple security and cash-counting procedures. Questions & Answers 1. What did Jairam Ramesh demand from PM Modi? He asked Modi to break his silence over the donation scandal at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and ensure accountability. 2. Who wrote the letter that Ramesh backed? Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi jointly wrote the letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 3. What does the letter ask for? It asks for an independent and comprehensive investigation into the trust's finances, and for the findings and accounts to be made public. 4. How is Champat Rai connected to this case? The letter refers to the trust's disgraced former General Secretary, a reference to Champat Rai, who has resigned amid the donation embezzlement probe. 5. How many people have been taken into custody so far? Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav, Manish Yadav, Subhash Chandra Srivastava and Ramashankar Mishra have all been taken into custody for questioning. 6. What has the SIT's preliminary investigation found? CCTV footage showed around 70 suspicious incidents between April 27 and June 5, 2026, with counting staff seen hiding bundles of cash. 7. How much money has been recovered in total? Around Rs 78.94 lakh was recovered from employees, and an additional Rs 2.25 lakh was found in a bathroom near the counting room. 8. Why does the timing of the letter matter? It came a day before Parliament's Monsoon Session opened on July 20, where Congress is expected to raise the issue. https://trendkia.com/en/politics/ram-mandir-chnda-ghotale-para-modi-ki-chuppi-torane-ki-manga-congress-ka-hamala-8732 TrendKia — Har trend, sabse pehle.