Avimukteshwaranand questions Ram temple FIR, calls BJP’s Hindutva ‘fake’

Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati has questioned the SIT probe into the Ayodhya Ram temple donation embezzlement, alleging that the FIR targets low-level cash counters while sparing influential individuals responsible for larger financial irregularities

Sambhal (UP): Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati of Jyotirmath on Friday questioned the FIR registered in the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, saying only lower-level employees had been named while those responsible for the alleged larger wrongdoing had been “spared”.

Speaking to reporters in Sambhal during his ongoing ‘Gau Dharma Yatra’, he said, “What can one say about the theft of donations? From the very beginning, arbitrary decisions have been taken in the Ram temple. Neither the scriptures nor the Vedas nor the advice of religious leaders has been followed. The trust was constituted with people chosen by political leaders, while saints, seers and priests were kept away.”

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“Had everything been intended to be fair, the trust could have been entrusted to the four Shankaracharyas, Ramanandacharya and other religious leaders. Instead, trusted political associates were appointed, which showed the intention from the beginning,” he added.

Referring to the FIR lodged in the alleged donation embezzlement case, he said, “We have heard that the FIR has been registered against those who counted the currency notes. They merely straightened the notes, counted them and bundled them. Tell us about the larger theft that happened afterwards. A person engaged in counting notes, even if he were to steal, could at best take a few notes. Large-scale thefts are committed by influential people. There is no FIR against them.”

Eight persons named in an FIR over the alleged embezzlement of donations received at the Ram temple in Ayodhya have been arrested, senior officials said on Friday.

The FIR, lodged at the instance of Krishna Mohan, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, follows recommendations made in the preliminary report of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe the allegations.

Saraswati said the opposition had not raised the issue without basis.

“If there was substance in the allegations, an FIR should have been registered on the very first day, even against unknown persons. The fact that an FIR has eventually been lodged after an inquiry itself shows that there was something to investigate. The opposition is only doing its duty by highlighting irregularities,” he said.

Targeting the BJP, Avimukteshwaranand alleged that the party’s Hindutva was “fake” and its members were “fake Hindus”.

“The party may be genuine because it is registered with the Election Commission, but its Hindutva is not genuine. Those who do not follow the Vedas are fake Hindus. Real Hindus believe in the Vedas, scriptures and their gurus, while these people do not,” he said.

While welcoming the Uttar Pradesh government’s initiative to restore ancient pilgrimage sites in Sambhal’s Kalki Nagari, he criticised it over the demolition of temples in Varanasi and claimed that history would judge the government harshly.

Avimukteshwaranand said he had been undertaking the ‘Gau Dharma Yatra’ since May 3, travelling from Gorakhpur through nearly 170 assembly constituencies to encourage voters to support candidates committed to cow protection in the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Rejecting allegations that the yatra was aimed at benefiting any political party, he said anyone was free to derive political benefit from the campaign.

“The BJP can benefit the most if it declares the cow as ‘rajmata’, but it is not doing so. If any other party wants to take political benefit, we are not stopping them,” Saraswati, who projects himself as the head of the Jyotirrmath, said.

He also said that voters should reserve their support for “genuine” candidates committed to Sanatan Dharma, saying such an approach would eventually produce an alternative political leadership.