The theft of offerings at the Ram temple which stands on the site of the demolished Babri Masjid, which was built with the aid of judicial manipulation and the coercive power of the state – has become a national issue. Corruption in this one temple is being presented as a betrayal of the faith of the entire Hindu community.Yet amid all the outrage, hardly anyone is willing to say that the very construction of this temple was itself a deception practised upon religion and faith; that this is a temple which will never be remembered for upholding truth; that behind it lies an entire history of falsehood, crime and violence; that it stands both as the result and the symbol of perhaps the greatest fraud perpetrated upon the minds and hearts of Hindus. We shall return to that larger question. Let us first consider the controversy now before us.The Congress, along with almost the entire opposition, has held the prime minister responsible for the corruption uncovered at the Ram temple built on the land of the Babri Masjid. They have also demanded answers from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).The BJP, the RSS and the media that speaks for them, on the other hand, are trying to confine the controversy to those directly entrusted with managing the temple offerings. The prime minister, who rarely misses an opportunity to speak on any matter, has chosen silence.Also read: Ram Temple ‘Theft’: SIT to Question Trust Members, Hindu Mahasabha Asks President to Dissolve TrustWithin the Hindutva fraternity itself, rival factions have begun throwing mud at one another and exposing each other’s secrets. They insist that the issue is not merely the theft of donations. They allege that corruption in the construction of the temple itself, as well as fraud in land transactions connected with it, involves powerful figures associated with the RSS and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).The carefully cultivated image of the RSS as an organisation of austere and upright men has begun to crack, for its functionaries have played the central role in the administration of the temple. Questions are also being raised about the funds collected during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement decades ago.Yet the RSS, true to its old habit, maintains that it has no formal connection with the temple. Its task, it says, is merely to build the character of Hindus. What those thus moulded by the RSS choose to do afterwards cannot possibly be its responsibility.That, however, raises another question. The best-known “men of character” produced by the RSS are hardly examples of moral integrity. From Nathuram Godse to Narendra Modi stretches a long line of figures who have risen to leadership within Hindu society – and therefore, by virtue of numbers, within India itself – not because of honesty or moral courage, but through the cultivation of deception, half-truths, hatred, violence and habitual falsehood.One should not forget Lal Krishna Advani, once the undisputed hero of Hindutva and today one of its most discarded figures.Nor should one overlook Atal Bihari Vajpayee, admired across the political spectrum for his gentle manners but equally adept at concealing intent beneath ambiguity and carefully chosen words.Much of what critics long said about the RSS is today being acknowledged by people within its own fold. Transparency has never been one of its virtues. An organisation that refuses to make itself transparent, that declines to account publicly for the money it receives, necessarily operates with a notion of character and religiosity quite different from the one it preaches.The present controversy over temple offerings also brings to mind conversations with several teachers appointed to colleges in Delhi during the last five to seven years. They told me that after securing their appointments they had begun paying guru dakshina.Also read: Ram Temple Funds Theft: Supreme Court Issues Notices to Union, UP Govts and Trust Over Pleas Seeking CBI ProbeOver the last decade, the amount of such “offerings” received by the RSS in Delhi must have multiplied many times over compared to earlier years. Naturally, all of it is described as voluntary. As for what happened before these appointments were made, the former Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University, Deepak Nayyar, has already spoken at length about it in one of his public lectures.But this essay is not really about the RSS. It seeks only to suggest that the corruption now exposed at the Ram temple cannot be understood unless we first confront the larger corruption without which this temple itself would never have come into being.If we refuse to do that, then the embezzlement of temple offerings should not surprise us. Anyone familiar with the functioning of temples and maths knows that they are not merely centres of faith. For devotees they are places where they offer their “shraddha‘ to the deity and express gratitude for blessings received. But for many of those who administer them, they are also centres of economic interest.Not only the offerings that devotees bring, but also the land attached to the temple and its other assets become objects of powerful attraction. We know that the murders and bloody battles that often accompany contests over who becomes a mahant or a priest are not competitions in devotion. They struggle for control over the wealth and property of temples and maths.Even where such murders and other forms of abuse are common knowledge, devotees continue to visit these shrines and offer their faith. There is therefore little reason to expect that financial corruption at the Ayodhya Ram temple will deeply disturb the faith of its devotees.This does not mean that the scandal should not be investigated or that accountability should not be demanded. After all, this is a misuse of public money. Those who never tire of preaching probity now stand accused themselves. They must answer for it. But in demanding accountability, we must also be disturbed by the manner in which the temple itself is being retrospectively legitimised.It was painful to read the statement of a senior Congress leader who said that he had donated money during Lal Krishna Advani’s Rath Yatra. He is widely respected for his courageous stand in defence of minorities. Yet he too contributed to the temple campaign.What else does this mean except that he regarded the demand for the temple as legitimate, despite knowing that such a temple could only be built after the Babri Masjid was demolished? Advani’s Rath Yatra left behind a trail of blood. Who can forget the slogan, “Mandir wahin banayenge” – “We shall build the temple there”? A well-known poet once proudly circulated the receipt of his own contribution to the temple campaign. Thousands of Muslim families remember the temple movement for their misery, murder of their close ones and destruction of their lives.Also read: Nripendra Mishra Says Govt Won’t Interfere in Functioning of Ram Temple Trust, New CEOThe movement for the Ram temple was the largest organised campaign to reshape – and corrupt – the Hindu mind. At its core lay falsehood, hatred, the desire for domination, and political calculation. How could a temple born of such a movement ever become a source of moral authority or spiritual sanctity? The judicial verdict that finally made its construction possible was itself a profound act of legal distortion.The entire process that culminated in this temple was irreligious, if by religion we mean truth, justice and goodwill. Even that very judgment acknowledged that two crimes had already been committed at the site – first, the surreptitious placing of idols inside a functioning mosque in 1949, and then the demolition of that mosque in 1992. How can sanctity emerge from ground marked by crime?Why did we not possess the moral courage to tell our own society this simple truth? During the consecration ceremony of the temple on January 22, 2024, Congress leaders sought to claim credit for its construction. Rajiv Gandhi’s decision to permit the shilanyas was a mistake for which the Congress ought to have felt enduring remorse. Instead, its leaders spoke of it with pride.We no longer possess the courage to tell our society that no structure built upon deception, falsehood and violence can ever become an expression of the sacred. Grave though the present financial scandal is, an even greater fraud has been committed over the past four decades in the name of this temple – a fraud perpetrated upon the minds of Hindus themselves.That, sadly, is the fraud no one wishes to speak about.Apoorvanand teaches Hindi at Delhi University.