Indian premier inaugurates grand Ram temple in Ayodhya

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the grand Ram temple built at the site of the demolished 16th-century Babri Mosque in the northern Indian city of Ayodhya.

Modi arrived in Ayodhya to participate in the consecration ceremony called “Pran Pratishtha,” also attended by 8,000 guests, including senior officials.

Amid religious hymns, the Indian prime minister led the opening ceremony during which a stone sculpture of Lord Ram was unveiled inside the temple's inner sanctum.

Ahead of the ceremony, the Indian government had said it would be attended by representatives of all major spiritual and religious sects of the country.

Officials said tens of thousands of devotees are expected to visit the temple from Tuesday onwards.

Constructed at an approximate​​​​​​​ cost of $217 million, the temple, spread over 2.7 acres (1.1 hectares), has employed the country's traditional and indigenous technology, according to officials.

The Ayodhya city, which has undergone a major transformation in the recent month, has been decorated as it awaits the major event.

“The resolve of centuries is being fulfilled, the hours of waiting have passed, the penance, renunciation and sacrifice of innumerable Ram devotees are being rewarded,” the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wrote on X.

Some Hindu seers and opposition leaders are staying away from the ceremony, alleging that the ceremony has been given a “political angle” and the temple is yet to be completely constructed.

The entire temple is expected to be completed this year, according to officials.

Ahead of the ceremony, many Indian states declared half-day and full-day holidays in view of the ceremony, with even health institutes at some places shutting patient services for half a day.

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India's premier government hospital in New Delhi, withdrew its order to shut down some of the patients following a backlash over its decision.

At many places, live screenings of the religious ceremony have been organized.

In the capital New Delhi – some 428 miles (689 kilometers) from Ayodhya city – saffron-colored flags with images of Hindu gods are dotting most of the markets.

Earlier this month, Modi said that the “world is eagerly waiting” for the inauguration of the grand temple.

The inauguration ceremony came four years after the groundbreaking ceremony was held in Ayodhya on Aug. 5, 2020.

The temple opening also marked the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s accomplishment of a major poll plank. General elections are due in India in the next few months and political commentators say it would benefit the ruling party electorally.

“Given the temple issue is on the slow burner for decades in Hindi belt states, BJP will benefit electorally even among sections of Hindus who closely follow other parties/ideologies,” Indian political commentator Niranjan Sahoo told Anadolu.

The 400-year-old Babri Mosque was razed to the ground on Dec. 6, 1992, by a large group of activists belonging to the Hindu nationalist organizations like Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), affiliated to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

They claimed that the mosque stood on the birthplace of Lord Ram.

Built in 1528 under the rule of the first Mughal Emperor Babur, the grand mosque along with a land of 2.77 acres became the center of a dispute in the latter half of the 19th century when a section of Hindus said it was the birthplace of King Rama, who is said to have ruled the region somewhere between 869,108 to 18.14 million years ago.

Hindus believe that Rama was the incarnation of God Vaishnava.

The demolition of the 16th-century Babri Mosque triggered violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims.

The decades-long dispute between Hindus and Muslims over the ownership of the site was settled by the Indian Supreme Court in 2019 when it handed over the site to Hindus and allowed the construction of a temple.

The court also directed authorities to allow a separate land on the outskirts of Ayodhya to the Sunni Central Waqf Board to build a new mosque.

On court orders, the Uttar Pradesh state government has handed over a five-acre land to the Waqf Board on the outskirts of the city as compensation to build the mosque. The board, which was formed to construct the mosque, says construction will start this year.