A day after the Congress announced that it would “aggressively” raise the alleged Ram Mandir donation scam before the public, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Himachal Congress president Vinay Kumar and several Ministers offered prayers at the local Ram temple and Hanuman temple on Tuesday morning. They walked raising slogans in praise of Lord Rama, and against the BJP.

“We prayed to Lord Rama to show the right path to the people who collected donation in the name of Lord Rama and in the name of religion. The BJP seems to believe in ‘Ram naam japna, chanda-chadwa apna’,” said Sukhu.  

The Chief Minister further said that the donation scam was the theft of faith and devotion, not merely of money and other valuables donated to the temple.

“It’s an emotional issue for every Hindu, and they would stand up against the fraud,” said the CM.

Sukhu said almost everyone, including himself, made donations towards the construction of the temple according to their means. “We all are Hindus, and the BJP should stop issuing certificates to people. A true devotee of Lord Rama will never use his name for politics.”