Modi opens controversial temple built on mosque ruins in Ayodhya

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has opened a controversial Hindu temple built on the ruins of a historic mosque in the northern city of Ayodhya.

Modi, dressed in a traditional kurta tunic, led the opening ceremony on Monday as Hindu priests chanted hymns inside the temple’s inner sanctum, where a 1.3-metre (4.3-foot) stone sculpture of Hinduism's Lord Ram was installed last week.

A conch was blown by a priest to mark the temple's opening and Modi placed a lotus flower in front of the black stone idol, decked in intricate gold ornaments and holding a golden bow and arrow. He later prostrated before the idol.

The opening of the temple heralded a "new era" for India, the Indian prime minister said. "January 22, 2024 is not merely a date in the calendar but heralds the advent of a new era," he said.

Modi's party and other Hindu nationalist groups who seized on the demand have portrayed the temple as central to their vision of reclaiming Hindu pride, which they say was shadowed by centuries of Mughal rule and British colonialism.

Millions of Indians watched the ceremony on television, with news channels running non-stop coverage of the event, portrayed as a religious spectacle.

"Ram Rajya (rule) begins," a TV news headline said. Ram Rajya is a Sankrit phrase that means just and ethical governance in Hinduism, but has also been used by Hindu nationalists to signify Hindu domination in an officially secular India.

Nearly 7,500 people, including elite industrialists, politicians and movie stars, witnessed the ritual on a giant screen outside the temple as a military helicopter showered flower petals.

Religious flashpoint

Analysts and critics see Monday's ceremony as the start of the election campaign for Modi, an avowed Hindu nationalist and one of India's most consequential leaders who has sought to transform the country from a secular democracy into a distinctly Hindu state in his nearly 10 years in power.

The temple, located at one of India's most vexed religious sites, is expected to embolden Modi's chances of clinching a record third successive term by drawing on the religious sentiments of Hindus, who make up 80 percent of India's population of 1.4 billion.

Ayodhya, once crowded with tightly packed houses and rundown stalls, has undergone an elaborate makeover in the lead-up to the temple's inauguration.

Built at an estimated cost of $217 million and spread over nearly 3 hectares (7.4 acres), the temple lies atop the debris of the 16th-century Babri Mosque, which was razed to the ground in 1992 by Hindu mobs who believed it was built on temple ruins marking the birthplace of Lord Ram.

The site has long been a religious flashpoint for the two communities, with the demolition of the mosque triggering bloody riots across India that killed 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.

The dispute ended in 2019 when, in a controversial decision, India's Supreme Court called the mosque's destruction "an egregious violation" of the law but granted the site to Hindus while giving Muslims a different plot of land.

The fraught history is still an open wound for many Muslims, who see the construction of the temple as a testament to Modi's Hindu-first politics.