Ram Charan sells jhal muri and bottled water on the Saryu Ghat in Ayodhya, and he has no doubt about what happened to the temple’s money. “They have stolen money from Mandir. Whoever is responsible must be punished,” he said.
The vendor spoke on the day the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust met to deal with the fallout. For weeks, allegations of financial irregularities had left the trust at the centre of what Times Now described as a donation theft row. Among the questions on the table was whether senior figures such as Champat Rai should resign.
In the lanes around the temple, people who make their living from the Ram Mandir talked of unease. They also said something else, over and over: “Bhagwan Ram dekh lenge.” God will see to it.
Faith and the trust are not the same thing
Down at the ghat, the devotees seemed hardly bothered. Their attention was on the aarti, on the feeling of being there. Most people in Ayodhya, the report found, keep the trust and their own belief in God in separate boxes.
For the vendors it is a practical matter. Ram Charan said that at that hour the ghat is normally full. “The numbers have reduced, but I don’t know if it is because of this,” he said. Like many traders he could not say whether the controversy had really hurt footfall, though he thought swift action would put things right.
Himanshu, who drives pilgrims to the temple, said belief has not wavered. He has heard his passengers talk about it. “People still have their aastha,” he said. “I have heard many devotees discuss in my cab that they will visit the temple because of their aastha, but they would not donate to the donation box. They would rather give the money to someone poor and think it’s their contribution to the Mandir.”
