Editorial: An unholy mess ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls

Ayodhya temple donation scam strikes at the core of the BJP’s Hindutva and Sanatan Dharma political identity, which is closely intertwined with the Ram Mandir project

For a party whose rise in national politics is largely due to mobilisation around the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, the Ayodhya temple donation scam has badly dented its image ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The allegations of widespread theft and other irregularities in the temple’s management strike at the core of the BJP’s Hindutva and Sanatan Dharma political identity, which is closely tied to the Ram Mandir project. Understandably, opposition parties, particularly the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, have turned it into a political weapon to attack the ruling establishment, accusing it of losing moral and administrative credibility, warning that the scandal has hurt the faith of devotees globally. With multiple arrests made in connection with the siphoning of offerings, the temple trust has been pressured into announcing internal management and security overhauls to restore public trust ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally performed the three rituals which marked the watershed moments in the temple construction’s timeline — foundation-laying ceremony in August 2020, consecration of child Rama’s idol in January 2024 and the flag hoisting ceremony in November 2025 — he cannot avoid responsibility for the affairs of the temple, including the scams that have hit at its virtuousness. The political fallout of the scam is likely to play a major part in the Assembly elections in UP and Uttarakhand. Much of the electoral imagination for 2027 in the aftermath of the Ram temple scandals is based on the SP-Congress alliance unexpectedly winning seven more Lok Sabha seats than the BJP and its allies in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP had never been on the lower side of the electoral balance since 2014, but the party took a beating with 36 seats, compared with the I.N.D.I.A Bloc’s 43. The siphoning of cash and valuables by the temple’s counting staff has deeply hurt the religious sentiments of donors, making it harder for the saffron party to claim exclusive custodianship of faith. A string of high-profile resignations within the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust have amplified perceptions of systemic supervisory failure. For the BJP-VHP-RSS trinity, the donations scam has grown into more than just a risk of electoral loss. It has also become a loss of ideology and of face. Rather than engaging solely on administrative transparency, the party and its leaders have pivoted to a defensive counter-offensive, deflecting blame onto the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) while accusing opponents of being anti-faith or attempting to downplay corruption elsewhere. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing theft allegations has uncovered deep-seated administrative neglect and ignored warnings, rather than isolated incidents. The preliminary findings, submitted to the Supreme Court, highlight poor documentation, lax security, and weak supervisory mechanisms, leading to repeated pilferage of devotees’ offerings. The Supreme Court is now overseeing the investigation, emphasising the need for record-keeping and reforms to restore public confidence.

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