In the flashpoint Indian town of Ayodhya, a Hindu Ram temple is under construction on the site where a mosque once stood. Officials from Hindu political parties have announced that the temple will open just months before India’s national elections next year.
Ayodhya, located in northern India, has a long history of religious tensions and has been the epicenter of sectarian violence in the country. Devout Hindus believe that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya approximately 7,000 years ago, but a mosque was built on the site believed to be his birthplace in the 16th century.
The nearly 500-year-old mosque was demolished by Hindu extremists in 1992, leading to widespread riots across India in which around 2,000 people, primarily Muslims, lost their lives.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a prominent Hindu far-right group closely connected to India’s ruling party, announced that an idol of Lord Ram would be consecrated on January 22. They emphasized that the temple is being built for “Shri Ramlala,” whose image is depicted on a page of the original copy of India’s Constitution. The idol will be consecrated in the innermost shrine of the temple.
After a prolonged legal battle, India’s top court awarded the site to Hindus in 2019, which was considered a significant victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, critics view this as part of Modi’s alleged agenda to transform officially secular India into a Hindu nation, potentially marginalizing the country’s 200 million Muslims, a claim he denies.
The construction of the Ram temple has been one of Modi’s key promises, and he laid the foundation for the building in 2020. Modi is widely anticipated to win a third term in the national elections scheduled for May next year.
The RSS has called for celebrations to mark the consecration of the temple’s idol.
