AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday, 2 July 2026, launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the management of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, questioning whether the government would hold those responsible for alleged financial irregularities accountable or shield them.

Posting in Hindi on X, Kejriwal wrote: 'मोदी जी ने खुद ट्रस्ट बनाया और एक-एक व्यक्ति को खुद चुना।' ('Modi himself formed the trust and personally handpicked every single member.') He further alleged that the Prime Minister installed his 'close aide' Champat Rai as the all-powerful head of the temple body, and asked whether Modi could be trusted to punish the 'real culprits.' Kejriwal concluded that the entire sequence of events suggested the Prime Minister was focused on 'hushing up the matter and protecting the guilty.'

Context

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust was constituted by the central government in February 2020, following the November 2019 Supreme Court verdict that settled the decades-long Ayodhya land dispute and cleared the path for construction of the Ram Temple. The trust was empowered to oversee construction, fund collection, and day-to-day administration of the project.

Champat Rai, the general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), was appointed to a senior executive role within the trust at the time of its formation. Kejriwal's post specifically singles out Rai's appointment as evidence of the Prime Minister's personal control over the body.

Policy Backdrop

The Ram Temple project attracted donations from millions of devotees across India and abroad, making the trust one of the largest religion-linked fund repositories in recent Indian history. Questions around financial oversight, land transactions, and internal governance of the trust have periodically surfaced in political discourse since its inception.

Opposition parties have consistently argued that a government-appointed body managing public religious donations requires independent auditing and parliamentary scrutiny. The BJP has maintained that the trust operates transparently and in accordance with its mandate.

Stakeholders and Impact

The trust's work directly affects millions of Hindu devotees who contributed funds for the temple's construction, as well as religious organisations involved in the project. Any perception of mismanagement or a cover-up could erode public trust in the administration of one of the ruling party's most symbolically significant projects.

Kejriwal's intervention signals that AAP intends to press the accountability question on a national stage, linking it to a broader narrative about institutional transparency under the current central government.

What's Next

Observers will watch for an official response from the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, a rebuttal from the BJP, or any statement from Champat Rai addressing the allegations. Parliamentary questions on trust finances and a possible demand for an independent audit are likely follow-up moves from the opposition.

If no credible institutional response emerges, the controversy could deepen public debate over the governance of large government-constituted religious bodies — a question with implications well beyond the Ram Temple alone.