On July 31st Pappu Yadav arrived at India’s parliament in Delhi dressed as a Hindu priest and armed with(带着，装备有) a donation box. The independent MP sat near the entrance to the building. One by one opposition MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, their leader, stepped up to drop money in the box. But on each occasion the fake priest snatched the cash, earning wild cheers from a crowd. The satirical(讽刺的) skit was livelier than most parliamentary discussions. Mr Yadav and the others were drawing attention to(引起对…的关注) allegations(指控，指称) of large-scale theft at the Ram temple in Ayodhya(阿约提亚罗摩神庙，印度教圣地), in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state.
7月31日，帕普·亚达夫装扮成印度教祭司，带着捐款箱来到德里印度议会。这位独立议员坐在大楼入口附近。包括反对党领袖拉胡尔·甘地在内的反对党议员们一个接一个走上前，往箱子里投钱。但每次这位假祭司都会抢走现金，引来人群的欢呼。这场讽刺短剧比大多数议会讨论还要生动。亚达夫等人是在引起人们对阿约提亚罗摩神庙大规模盗窃指控的关注，该神庙位于印度人口最多的北方邦。
Staff at the temple, which receives millions of visitors each year, have been accused of siphoning(挪用，抽取) donations from devotees. Some of the alleged theft has been confirmed in a government report. The scale of the scheme is still being investigated, but some reports suggest the loot(赃物，掠夺物) could exceed 70m rupees ($739,550). Abhishek Upadhyay, whose media outlet Top Secret first carried the allegations in early June, says the rot runs deeper(问题比表面更深). He claims a whistleblower(举报人，吹哨人) has shared information with investigators alleging corruption in the process of building the temple (construction costs, he claims, ballooned(急剧膨胀) from a projected 8bn rupees to 22bn by the time it opened in 2024).
该寺庙每年接待数百万游客，其工作人员被指控从信徒那里挪用捐款。一些涉嫌盗窃的行为已在政府报告中得到证实。该计划的规模仍在调查中，但一些报道显示，赃款可能超过7000万卢比（合73.955万美元）。阿布舍克·乌帕德亚伊的媒体《绝密》在6月初率先报道了这些指控，他说问题远比表面更深。他声称，一名举报人已向调查人员分享了信息，指控寺庙建设过程中存在腐败（他声称，建设成本从预计的80亿卢比膨胀到2024年开放时的220亿卢比）。
The hullabaloo(喧闹，骚动) is embarrassing for Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which governs India and Uttar Pradesh. The party prides itself on(以…为傲) probity(廉洁，正直), and the temple is its signature achievement: the culmination(高潮，顶点) of a decades-long quest to build a monument on the spot where many Hindus believe the god Ram was born. A 16th-century mosque that stood there was destroyed in 1992 when a rally at its gates descended into(陷入，沦为) a riot. In 2019 the Supreme Court granted Hindus possession(最高法院将土地判给印度教徒) of the site (Muslims were offered land nearby for a new mosque). When a temple was finally consecrated(祝圣，奉献) there in 2024, Mr Modi took part in the rites.
这场喧闹让纳伦德拉·莫迪的印度人民党（BJP）感到尴尬，该党同时执政印度和北方邦。该党以廉洁自居，而这座寺庙是其标志性成就：这是数十年来在印度教徒认为罗摩神诞生的地方建造纪念碑的追求的高潮。1992年，一座16世纪的清真寺在集会演变成骚乱时被毁。2019年，最高法院将这块土地判给印度教徒（穆斯林被提供附近土地建新清真寺）。2024年寺庙最终在那里举行奉献仪式时，莫迪参加了仪式。