India’s Narendra Modi to lead ‘historic’ opening of Hindu temple as he seeks third term as prime minister
- The construction of the temple is a 35-year-old, central promise of Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP that helped catapult the party to power
- The inauguration ceremony is also being seen as the virtual launch of the religious strongman’s re-election campaign for general elections due by May
The construction of the temple is a 35-year-old, central promise of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a contentious political issue that helped catapult the party to prominence and power.
Hindu groups are portraying the inauguration ceremony in the northern city of Ayodhya as the peak of Hindu awakening after centuries of subjugation by Muslim and colonial powers.
It is also being seen as the virtual launch of the deeply religious strongman Modi’s re-election campaign for general elections due by May.
The temple site was bitterly contested for decades with both Hindus and Muslims laying claim to it and was a flashpoint for violence after a Hindu mob in 1992 destroyed a 16th-century mosque that stood there.
India’s majority Hindus say the site is the birthplace of Lord Ram, and was holy to them long before Muslim Mughals razed a temple at the spot and built the Babri Masjid or mosque there in 1528.
