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News Desk: After the controversy erupted on the issue of land purchase by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Monday categorically rejected the allegations and presented a detailed presentation of the purchase of the land.
Taking strong objection to the allegations, International Working President Alok Kumar said that defamation suits will be filed against Opposition parties who have levelled allegations to mislead people ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
“The land was in the name of Kusum Pathak. A few years ago she had signed an agreement with Sultan Ansari and Ravi Mohan Tripathi in which she agreed to sell it for Rs 2 crore, which was the market rate of the land at the time,” Kumar said.
“Kusum Pathak was ready to sell it but she could not sell it because she had already entered into a deal. Meanwhile, both Sultan Ansari and Ravi Mohan Tripathi were also willing to sell it, but they couldn’t take that decision without the consent of Kusum and moreover they didn’t have any agreement to sell it,” he said.
“But this deal was not possible without the consent of these four including Harish Pathak,” he added.
“Construction of Ram Temple is authentic and transparent. Attempts to malign this divine movement are unfortunate. It appears that this misinformation campaign is being done by selfish motives. The political parties are trying to politicize the matter but it is related to faith,” he said.
The Ram Temple trust was set up by the Narendra Modi-led government in February 2020 to oversee and manage the construction of the mandir in Ayodhya based on a Supreme Court verdict.
As per the apex court’s order, the trust was given around 70 acres of land in the ruling and 12 of its 15 members are nominated by the Centre.
Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on June 13 alleged that am Temple trust general secretary Champat Rai bought 1.208 hectares of land in Ayodhya’s Bag Bjaisi village worth Rs 2 crore at an inflated price of Rs 18.5 crore for the Mandir with the help of trust member Anil Mishra. Meanwhile, Congress today hit out at the BJP, RSS and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe.
Rai categorically dismissed the allegations and said that the accusations are politically motivated.
“After the Supreme Court order, a lot of people started coming to Ayodhya to purchase land, and as the UP government is also purchasing a lot of land for development works, the land price increased suddenly. The land on which discussion has started is very close to the railway station and therefore, is at a very important location. All the land purchased by the Trust is purchased at a price much lower than the market price,” a statement signed by Trust secretary Champat Rai read.
