Hyderabad, July 5 -- Ram Mandir, the Sangh Parivar's most totemic project in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya, one that received the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) direct and sustained public endorsement, is now under major scrutiny over allegations of theft of donations from the temple trust.

The controversy has reignited long-running questions about the temple's construction and the BJP's decades-long politicisation of the issue.

Babri Masjid

In the shadow of the Babri Masjid

The site has a fraught history. Mir Baqi, a commander in the Mughal army, built the Babri Masjid in 1528 during the reign of the emperor Babur. It stood without serious dispute for over three centuries, until 1853, when a Hindu sect claimed that a temple had been demoli...