Ayodhya Hindu temple at former Babri Mosque site to open pre-election.
Devotees of Hinduism hold that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya approximately 7,000 years ago, but that in the 16th century, a mosque called the Babri Masjid was built on top of his birthplace.
For a long time, the sacred city in northern India served as a religious hotspot and the catalyst for some of the worst sectarian violence in the nation.
When Hindu fanatics destroyed the over 500-year-old mosque in 1992, it set off nationwide riots that claimed the lives of 2,000 people, most of them Muslims.
An idol of Lord Ram will be dedicated on January 22, according to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a well-known far-right Hindu organization with millions of adherents that participates in paramilitary exercises and prayer gatherings and is closely associated with India’s ruling party.
“In Ayodhya, a temple is being constructed for Shri Ramlala, whose image appears on a page of the original copy of our Constitution,” the RSS stated in a social media post.
It continued, saying, “Shri Ramlala will be consecrated in the (innermost shrine) of the temple.” 2019 saw the site given to Hindus by India’s top court following a protracted legal dispute.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, won a significant victory.
However, some see it as a further move in Modi’s agenda, which he disputes, to convert ostensibly secular India into a Hindu nation, marginalizing its 200 million Muslims.
When the building’s foundation was laid in 2020, one of Modi’s primary promises was the construction of a temple dedicated to Ram.
In the national elections that are scheduled for May of next year, Modi is most likely to win a third term. When the temple idol is dedicated, the RSS asked for festivities.
