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India came to a halt on Monday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the unveiling of a large Hindu temple at a disputed holy site that is a symbol of religious tensions in the world’s largest democracy.
The Ram Mandir, valued at $217 million, will pay homage to Lord Ram, Hinduism’s most respected deity, and transform Ayodhya, a city of about 3 million people in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, into a resort that the government hopes will be a Hindu version. of the Vatican.
Dressed in a classic Kurta robe, Modi led the rite of consecration as Hindu priests sang hymns and a 4. 25-foot statue of Lord Ram was unveiled in the temple’s inner sanctum. Indian Air Force helicopters flooded the temple with flower petals as Modi placed a lotus flower in front. of the black stone idol, adorned with gold ornaments.
“After centuries of waiting, our Aries has arrived,” he said in a speech after the ceremony, addressing the thousands of worshippers, politicians, businessmen and celebrities who gathered for the event.
“From now on we will be laying the foundations of India for the next 1,000 years,” he said.
The temple built on the site of Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque that was destroyed by Hindu nationalist mobs in 1992, sparking nationwide riots that killed about 2,000 people, most of them Muslims. In 2019, India’s Supreme Court ruled that a temple may be built on the disputed 7-acre site, in a moot ruling that has been criticized by Muslim groups.
The inauguration of the temple, which is still far from complete, comes as Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party prepare to seek a third consecutive term in elections this spring. The BJP had championed the temple for decades as a way to celebrate Hindu identity. after centuries of Mughal and British rule. Its openness could simply curry favor with Modi from Indian voters, a country of 1. 4 billion people that has been predominantly Hindu since independence in 1947.
The rite of decision is celebrated as a national event, many states mark a holiday, stock markets close their doors, and temples across the country hold their own ceremonies.
Indian media weighed in on the politics of the event, which was broadcast live across India and at Indian diplomatic missions and other locations around the world, and in New York’s Times Square on Sunday night.
In Maurice, a small island country in the Indian Ocean where almost a portion of the population is Hindu, Hindu religious officials had two hours free to monitor the event.
Some Hindu religious leaders had refused to attend the ceremony, saying a Hindu temple cannot be consecrated until it is finished. Other critics, including India’s main opposition Congress party, accused Modi of stoking religious tensions.
Sunita Viswanath, executive director of the US-based nonprofit Hindus for Human Rights, said the ritual was an “election gimmick” that “should not take a stand on the call of my faith. “
“Modi is a priest, so performing this rite for political purposes is technically and morally reprehensible,” he said in a press release. “This militarization of our faith tramples on what remains of India’s secular democratic values. “
The city of Ayodhya is remaking itself around the temple, which will be able to accommodate about 200,000 visitors a day. Roads have been widened, with the 8-mile, four-lane Ram Path guiding pilgrims to the pink sandstone, three-story structure.
A new airport, inaugurated by Modi last month, showcases the temple’s architecture on its façade and will eventually be able to serve 6 million passengers a year. Giant new hotels are being built, while local citizens like Amit Gupta are turning their homes into guesthouses.
Gupta, 35, who was born and raised in Ayodhya, said he was “very happy” with the temple.
“Now we can see it before our eyes,” he said.
Gupta and his staff are pulling out all the stops to prepare for the anticipated influx of tourists in the coming weeks, with Gupta saying he is almost fully booked with visitors from around India.
“We’re working very hard to make sure no one gets here,” he said in a phone interview. “They leave Ayodhya with the feeling that ‘not only Lord Ram, but also the other people there have taken care of us’. »
Some Hindus claim that Lord Ram was born on the precise spot of Babri Masjid and that the mosque had replaced a Hindu temple destroyed by Muslim invaders.
A spokesman for Vishva Hindu Parishad, a Hindu nationalist organization criticized for its role in the destruction of the mosque in 1992, said this month that the effort to build the temple “is bigger than the independence movement itself. “
In its 2019 ruling, the Supreme Court set aside a different area for the construction of a mosque, about 15 miles away. Though Haji Arfat Shaikh, head of the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation and a BJP politician, has said the new mosque will be “more beautiful than the Taj Mahal,” construction has yet to begin on the 5-acre site.
Modi enjoys a privileged position in India, where his 77% approval rating makes him the world’s most popular leader, according to U. S. consultancy Morning Consult. His state stop at the White House last June drew crowds of travelers from India. diaspora, but also protests against its human rights record.
Since Modi took office in 2014, press freedom in India has declined and communal violence against Muslims, Christians and other devout minorities has intensified. He also criticized it in 2019 for revoking the limited autonomy of Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority region.
At the same time, India has grown in global stature, strengthening ties with the United States and its allies in its quest to counterbalance China while also touting its leading role in the Global South.
Relations between the United States and India are not strained. In November, U. S. prosecutors charged an unnamed Indian government official with plotting to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader living in New York. India said such a crime would be “contrary to government policy. “
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