AIKS Demands Probe Under Supervision of Supreme Court Judge, Seeks Yogi Adityanath's Resignation Over Ayodhya Allegations

New Delhi: The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has demanded the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and called for a time-bound, impartial investigation under the supervision of a sitting or former Supreme Court judge into alleged irregularities involving the Ayodhya Ram Temple donations and related land transactions.

In a press statement issued on Monday, the farmers' organisation alleged that the controversy extended beyond the reported theft of temple offerings and involved what it described as one of the biggest land scams in Uttar Pradesh's history.

AIKS states that cash donations, gold, silver, diamonds, precious stones, ashtadhatu (eight-metal alloy) idols and other valuables offered at the temple had allegedly been misappropriated. It stated that the combined value of the purported scam could run into several thousand crore rupees when all assets were taken into account.

The organisation also questioned widespread irregularities in land transactions carried out during the development of Ayodhya. They added that documentary evidence has now surfaced showing how, within minutes, the prices of land involved in transactions increased dramatically. Original landowners were allegedly paid throwaway amounts, while Champat Rai and other purported buyers made enormous profits running into crores—and in many cases, hundreds of crores of rupees.

Ayodhya has become the site of what is being described as the biggest land scam in the history of Uttar Pradesh, and this did not happen accidentally. Hundreds of historic and ancient temples were also allegedly not spared in this process. Both the Central and Uttar Pradesh governments are implicated. Although Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had promised an inquiry in 2021, its report has still not been made public. The scam was allegedly so extensive that even government nazul land was bought and sold.

The involvement of businessmen and industrialists from Gujarat in these land transactions demonstrates that Ayodhya was deliberately turned into a source of enormous private profit for those close to the ruling establishment. Ayodhya, it is alleged, was opened up for systematic plunder.

The forcible eviction of thousands of families, small shopkeepers and other residents from Ayodhya is also described as part of this land grab. The livelihoods of poor citizens who had lived and worked there for generations have been destroyed.

Questioning the ongoing investigation, AIKS expressed doubts over the functioning of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), alleging that it had been constituted to shield influential individuals rather than identify those responsible. It noted that while some arrests had reportedly been made, individuals including Champat Rai, Anil Mishra and Gopal Rao had not been arrested.

The organisation also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the RSS, alleging that they bore political responsibility for the functioning of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. AIKS claimed that the trust was largely composed of individuals associated with the RSS and the Ram Temple movement and argued that the leadership could not distance itself from the controversy.

Among its demands, AIKS called for the immediate resignation of Chief Minister Adityanath, a time-bound and impartial investigation under the supervision of a sitting or former Supreme Court judge, confiscation of assets allegedly acquired through the scam, disclosure of all alleged beneficiaries, compensation and rehabilitation for displaced landowners under the provisions of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, and the dissolution of the present Ayodhya Temple Trust in favour of an institutional administrative model similar to those followed by several temple administrations in southern India.