Congress politician Digvijaya Singh on Monday, 18 January, has donated Rs 1.11 lakh to ‘Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust’, involved in the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) began a 44-day nationwide campaign on Friday, 15 January, to collect donations for the construction of the temple. Singh, who is among the first members from the Congress to make a donation, said in his letter that he “wants to see the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya soon”.
In a jibe at the lack of transparency, he wrote a two-page-long letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and enclosed the cheque amounting to Rs 1,11,111, requesting him to deposit it into an “appropriate account”.
Singh said his native hometown, Raghogarh, has a 400-year-old Ram temple, and said “despite Lord Ram being present in every bit of me, I never mix my religious feelings with politics.”
He further wrote he couldn’t tag nationalism with religion, and quoted Gandhi, saying, “Religion is no test of nationality but a personal matter between man and his God.”
Further, the senior politician said in the letter, “Raising slogans against a community with weapons to collect donations cannot be part of any religious ritual or activity,” and that there were many “known and unknown” persons, including some with “sticks and swords”, who have donated to the trust. He went on to ask whether people have received receipts for their donations, and if the trust has authorised these “armed” people to collect funds.
He has also drawn attention to “three unpleasant incidents have occurred in Madhya Pradesh due to this and this has caused damage to the social fabric[sic.],” and raised questions over how such acts can be labelled as “religious work”.
Singh asked the PM to “force” VHP to present an “account of the donations collected” to the public.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)