Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has announced a padyatra from the Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain to the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya from 2 October, framing the nearly 900-km journey as a demand for accountability over alleged irregularities in donations and offerings linked to the Ayodhya shrine.
Singh, a former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha member, said the march would begin on Gandhi Jayanti and would be conducted without party flags or electoral messaging. He described it as a non-political yatra for devotees who had contributed to the construction of the temple and wanted a transparent accounting of their offerings.
The announcement comes amid a widening investigation into alleged misappropriation of donations at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, the body that manages the Ram temple in Ayodhya. A Special Investigation Team has been examining donation records, counting procedures, land-related transactions and the role of people associated with the handling of offerings. Several arrests have been reported in the case, and investigators have moved beyond lower-level staff to question senior functionaries connected with the temple’s management.
Singh said he would also pursue legal action over his own contribution to the temple fund, stating that he had donated ₹1.11 lakh and wanted the money returned so it could be given to the Ramalaya Trust. He said he would carry a copy of his receipt during the march and would invite other donors to join the yatra if they wished to seek an account of how their money was used.
The proposed route from Ujjain to Ayodhya links two major centres of Hindu worship. Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar Temple, one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, has long been central to religious and political symbolism in Madhya Pradesh. Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir has become one of the most prominent religious sites in the country since its consecration in January 2024, drawing large numbers of pilgrims and substantial donations.
The yatra is also likely to sharpen political contestation around temple governance. Singh has alleged that people associated with the wider Sangh Parivar betrayed devotees by allowing funds and offerings to be misused. The BJP and affiliated organisations have rejected any attempt to use the controversy to malign Hindu institutions, while also calling for action against those found guilty. The RSS has acknowledged that the allegations have hurt devotees’ faith and has urged a strict probe, but has also warned against using the episode to attack Hindu religious institutions.
The matter has widened beyond the original claims of donation theft. Investigators are looking at whether lapses in procedure allowed offerings to be siphoned off from counting rooms, whether bank deposits matched recorded collections, and whether monitoring systems were adequately enforced. Questions have also been raised over procurement, land transactions and internal oversight within the trust structure. The scale of the inquiry has increased pressure on the trust to demonstrate that the financial systems governing the temple are capable of withstanding public scrutiny.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust was formed after the Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya title dispute. Its legal position gives it considerable operational autonomy, which has become a point of debate as demands grow for more transparent disclosure of donations, expenditure and decision-making. The controversy has revived a wider question over how religious institutions with vast assets and public contributions should be supervised without turning them into instruments of government control.
