Narendra Modi hails the arguable opening as the fulfillment of a ‘dream that many have cherished for years’
More than three decades after a mob of radical Hindu militants razed a mosque in the Indian town of Ayodhya, the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated a new Hindu temple that will upgrade it.
For some, the inauguration marks an incredibly vital devotional moment. Many Hindus believe that Ayodhya is the birthplace of the popular deity Lord Ram and that the temple structure, after more than a century of struggle, was heralded as the return of Ram to his rightful place. position and the liberation of India from the chains of an occupation beyond devotion.
Modi himself called it the realization of the “dream that many have cherished for years. ” During Prana Pratishtha, the Monday rituals to consecrate the temple and give offerings and blessings to the idol of young Lord Ram placed in the inner sanctum, Modi played an important role. starring role, having spent the last 11 days observing a special purification ritual to prepare.
The construction of the Ram temple has become a national event, with 8,000 official guests, including politicians, diplomats, Bollywood stars and holy figures, as thousands of pilgrims flocked to Ayodhya from all over the country to show their devotion to the new temple. and Lord Ram. Array The city also underwent a $3 billion government-funded transformation and was adorned with flower garlands, saffron flags, photographs of Ram and billboards of Modi.
Arjun Kumar, 22, a driver, had spent the past 20 days on a pilgrimage walking the 466 miles (750km) from Delhi to Ayodhya. “I consider it as the most important journey of my life,” he said. “Many of my friends were afraid to take this journey but we are followers of Lord Ram and Narendra Modi, no one can stop us. I think every Hindu should walk up to here to send a message that this country belongs to us and no one can stop us.”
After the ceremony, devotees flocked to approach Ram Mandir. Bharat Patel, 52, an herbal trader from Gujarat, said: “When I was handed over here and looked at the temple, I broke down and cried. I can say that we feel paradise here. It is a proud moment for Hindus around the world.
Others boycotted the ceremony, accusing Modi of orchestrating the political event ahead of the spring elections, where he will seek a third term.
The demolition of the mosque in 1992 paved the way for Hindu nationalism to become the dominant political force it is today, and the pledge to build a Ram Temple in Ayodhya has been at the core of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party’s (BJP) political agenda to establish Hindu supremacy in India.
The temple will not be completed until next year, prompting some Hindu holy figures to oppose its anticipated opening. Besides Modi, the few participants in Monday’s temple consecration rite were Yogi Adityanath, a radical Hindu monk and BJP chief minister in Uttar Pradesh, and Mohan Bagwat, head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the right-wing Hindu paramilitary organization that gave rise to the movement. BJP.
Kapil Komireddi, of Malevolent Republic: A Short History of New India, said the close alignment between the prime minister and Ram Temple was indicative of the risk the BJP poses to India as a secular republic whose charter enshrines all religions as equal.
“This is a purely political spectacle, the culmination of a 40-year political task, a task that was achieved through wonderful violence,” Komireddi said. “It is the crowning of Hinduism as India’s state faith and the crowning of the cult of personality erected around Modi. This is a very unhappy time for India.
Disputes over the holy site of Ayodhya date back more than a century. A mosque, Babri Masjid, was built there in 1528 by Mughal Emperor Babur, one of the Muslim rulers who ruled India for about 500 years, but later Hindus began demanding the right to pray in what they believed to be the birthplace. of India. Mr. Ram.
Muslims continued to pray at the Babri Masjid until 1949, when the issue was taken up by a small radical Hindu group, which claimed that a temple had once stood on the site and pledged to “liberate” the land and rebuild it. The idol of Ram was placed in the mosque, supposedly through a Hindu priest, its doors were locked.
The campaign among rightwing Hindu groups to reclaim Ayodhya and build a temple began to build momentum again in the 1980s. By 1990, the leaders of the BJP – back then an emerging political party – threw their weight behind the movement, leading marches to Ayodhya.
In December 1992, when a mob entered Ayodhya and began demolishing the mosque with sledgehammers, axes and iron bars, bringing it down in a matter of hours, several senior BJP leaders were present.
In November 2019, the Supreme Court declared the destruction illegal, but granted the land name to the Hindu side. No one has been convicted for the demolition or subsequent violence in Ayodhya, which killed 17 Muslims in the city and sparked nationwide riots that left more than 2,000 dead. other people killed.
For Shri Mahant Dharamdas Akhil, 75, a Hindu priest and pupil of the priest who allegedly placed Ram’s idol in the mosque in 1949, the temple’s unveiling on Monday was the culmination of a cause to which he had been faithful with his life and “one of the most important days in the history of India. “
He was among those who took part in the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, which he described as a “just cause”, and was also a petitioner in the supreme court case. “It was not only us who brought down that structure, there was divine intervention from God,” he said. “This temple of Ram will now become one of the most important places in Hinduism in all of the world.”
But for the Muslims of Ayodhya, many of whom lost loved ones or saw their homes destroyed in 1992 amid the violence that erupted around the mosque demolition, Monday’s rite served as a wake-up call. attention. old traumas and fears.
Abdul Wahid Qureshi, 44, a shopkeeper, recalled that day in 1992, when the rightwing Hindu mob went on a rampage through his locality, killing any Muslims in their path. Among those who died was his neighbour, a frail elderly man who was burned alive in his home. Qureshi survived the violence only because a Hindu living close by gave them shelter.
“I can never forget those gory scenes,” he said. “They burned down everything which had any resemblance of Muslims. That day changed everything for us as Muslims in Ayodhya. We returned after a couple of weeks and my father managed to build a new house. But since then, the sense of security is gone.”
Qureshi said many Muslims feared that as thousands of foreigners continued to arrive in Ayodhya, they would become a target again. Half of the Muslim houses were abandoned during the temple festivities. “It all goes back to 1992,” he says. I am afraid, like all the other Muslims here, of what will happen to us once the dignitaries leave and security is removed. “
Anwari Begum, whose husband was dismembered and murdered by a mob in 1992, said she was never given justice for his death. “But I’ve made peace with that for the greater good,” she said. “If the temple structure brings peace here, I will avoid seeking justice for my husband’s murder. “