New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday expressed shock and surprise over the alleged embezzlement of funds at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya and called it an “utter betrayal of the faith and trust” of crores of Hindus.

Speaking exclusively to IANS on a host of issues ranging from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure as the longest-serving PM, the Trinamool Congress defections and the US-Iran peace deal, the Congress MP touched upon the issue of alleged funds misappropriation at the Ram Temple and termed it an unacceptable and reprehensible act.

“It is really shocking. The temples are a matter of faith. You go there, pray to God and donate something to God. When you give something in the hundi, place before the Lord as the offering (‘chadhava’), it is meant for the temple. It is for a divine purpose, and it means that it must be used entirely only for the temple and not any other purpose,” Tharoor said.

“When you discover that not just lakhs but crores may have been siphoned away, it is such a betrayal of trust and a violation of faith,” he added.

The Thiruvananthapuram lawmaker further said that he was shocked beyond belief at the scale of betrayal of crores of devout Hindus and was aghast to see how much they would be feeling betrayed at such treachery, which was apparently done by someone handling the monetary transactions at the temple.

The financial irregularities in Ram Temple’s ‘chadhava’ came to light days ago when allegations surfaced that many staff members handling the funds and jewellery received from the devotees, from India and abroad, had siphoned them off for personal gains and allegedly used them to build lavish mansions for themselves.

Tharoor also congratulated Narendra Modi on becoming the country’s longest-serving elected Prime Minister, stating that his “compelling presence on the national stage has managed to leave his stamp on many aspects of Indian life, society and politics”.

“He has a tremendous amount of dynamism and energy, he has a vision, he is a powerful orator, perhaps one of the best orators the country has seen in Hindi,” Tharoor added, while stressing the fact that Jawahar Lal Nehru and Indira Gandhi served longer terms than him, though with separate tenures.

–IANS

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