Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad has demanded an inquiry into “irregularities” in land deals executed in and around Ayodhya after the Supreme Court’s November 2019 decision permitting the construction of the Ram temple. The MP demanded that Parliament constitute a committee to investigate the alleged irregularities
The Lok Sabha MP from Faizabad said that land was bought on a “grand scale” in Ayodhya after November 2019. “Irregularities were done in the land deals,” Prasad claimed in the Lok Sabha.
The Ram temple is being built on the site of the Babri mosque, which was demolished by Hindutva extremists in December 1992 because they believed that it stood on the spot where the Hindu deity Ram was born. The incident had triggered communal riots across the country.
In November 2019, the top court held the demolition of the Babri mosque to be illegal but handed over the land to a trust for the construction of a Ram temple. It also directed that a five-acre plot in Ayodhyabe given to Muslims for the construction of a mosque.
“There is one piece of land worth Rs 2 crore that was sold for Rs 18 crore,” Prasad alleged. “Those buyers are none other than BJP people. They destroyed farmers. That is why the public is upset.”
He also emphasised the need to identify the buyers in these land deals. “That report should be tabled in the House to make things clear,” he said.
Since the Supreme Court’s verdict, there has been a 30% increase in land transactions in 25 villages in Ayodhya, as well as villages in Gonda and Basti districts that are located within 15 kilometres of the Ram temple, The Indian Express reported earlier this month. Many transactions are linked to politicians, senior government officials and their relatives.
The land rush accompanying the temple’s construction also drew in large firms like the Adani Group and Lodha, Scroll reported in January. It created a set of local beneficiaries often connected to the BJP.
Prasad claimed that the BJP had cheated the people of Ayodhya, saying that neither the district nor Uttar Pradesh had found mention in the Union Budget presented on July 23.
“The BJP has done politics and business in the name of Ayodhya,” he said. “With a pained heart I am saying this today that the development of Ayodhya has been completely neglected because I am a Dalit.”
Prasad won the Faizabad constituency in the recently concluded general election, defeating the BJP’s Lallu Singh by over 50,000 votes.
“Whether it is Ram Path or aerodrome or any other construction, people’s houses have been demolished using bulldozers,” he said. “That is why the BJP was rejected completely.”
In the run-up to polling, the BJP cited the construction of the Ram temple as one of its achievements during its second term in power at the Centre. The Hindutva party also criticised Opposition parties for not supporting its endeavour.
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