The party’s move comes a day after the Shiv Sena (UBT) launched its own statewide ‘Ram Raksha Andolan’ over the same issue. The agitation was inaugurated by party chief Uddhav Thackeray at the Hanuman Temple in Dadar on 5 July, where he joined party workers and visiting sadhus from Ayodhya in a Ram Raksha Maha Aarti.
As part of its campaign, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has planned district-level programmes centred on the chanting of the Ram Raksha Stotra and the Hanuman Chalisa. Senior leaders of the party have demanded the dissolution of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and called for full administrative accountability in the handling of temple donations.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut alleged that not only cash but also gold ornaments, a gold copy of the Ramcharitmanas and a mangalsutra offered to Sita had gone missing. Thackeray, invoking the Shiv Sena’s role in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, said those who exploit religious faith for personal gain would not be forgiven by Hindus.
The allegations around the Ayodhya temple donations have now triggered a fresh political flashpoint in Maharashtra, with both the Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT) seeking to turn the issue into a broader attack on the BJP over accountability and the use of religion in politics.
With IANS inputs
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