India's Modi to inaugurate temple built on rubble of 16th century mosque

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday inaugurate a Hindu temple built on the site of a former historic mosque in the country's north. The big-budget event is intended to unite Hindu voters ahead of this year's elections, but excitement has been dampened by opposition boycotts and ongoing tensions with India's Muslim population.

Workers at the construction site of a temple to Hindu deity Ram, in Ayodhya on December 29, 2023. AFP - ARUN SANKAR

Rightwing factions have been seen handing out invitations to the 22 January consecration of the 50-metre Ram Temple in Ayodhya, a city in Hindi-speaking Uttar Pradesh state.

In December 1992, radical Hindus tore down a mosque that has stood on the site for 400 years in an act that caused violent riots that killed 2,000 people across India – most of them Muslim.

More than 30 years later, Modi will inaugurate a new Hindu temple on the historic site. The €298 million project has kept Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in office for two terms since 2014. 

The BJP hopes opening the temple, dubbed as Hinduism's Mecca or Vatican, will help Modi secure a fourth term during this summer's elections.

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Boycotts, criticism

Some Muslims have said they see the celebrations as closure to decades of bad blood. But the inauguration is not clear of criticism: two of Hinduism’s four pontiffs said they will boycott the ceremony. 

The main opposition Congress party along with a regional grouping has also decided to boycott the event, to be attended by both ardent worshippers and other visitors.

“I do not need a middleman between myself and my God,” Congress spokesman Pawan Khera said, calling out public images of larger-than-life Modi walking an infant Ram holding his finger.

Modi condemned boycotters as he kicked off 11 days of fasting as a countdown to the inauguration.

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Ongoing fears

Muslims say that while religious attacks are now rare, discrimination by landlords, schools, healthcare and job sectors have carried on ever since the BJP came to power in Delhi and wrestled their way into more than 20 of the country’s 28 states.

Human rights group V-Dem have dubbed India an “electoral autocracy” as the BJP faces accusations of shunning Muslims who make up 14 percent of the country's population but only 5 percent of seats in parliament.

The Washington-based Freedom House has warned that Muslims face political threats from the BJP, including a plan for a national register of citizens that could disenfranchise undocumented Muslims by effectively classifying them as illegal.

Public sentiment on the temple varies as political and religious concerns juxtapose anticipation for its inaguration. 

"We Muslims accept Shri Ram as our spiritual leader of India and rejoice in the happiness of our Hindu brethren,” said Iqbal Ansari, who fought for Muslim rights on the mosque-temple row in court.

Amish Tripathy, the fastest-selling author in Indian publishing history, conceded the celebrations were unprecedented but added: "If someone tries to enforce one particular way of worshipping lord Ram then that goes against the spirit.”