On Monday, January 22, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a Hindu temple built on the site of a former historic mosque in the north of the country. The ritual of consecration of the temple of God Rama will take place on Monday, Reuters writes, UNN reports .
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In December 1992, radical Hindus demolished a mosque that had stood on this site for 400 years, causing violent riots and killing 2,000 people across India, most of them Muslims.
In 30 years, Modi will inaugurate a new Hindu temple on this historic site.
Since Muslims claimed the land for the temple, the issue became politically charged. The Indian National Congress and a number of other opposition parties refused to attend the ceremony.
Many also see this event as a symbolic start to Modi's election campaign. Elections are scheduled for May.
The plot of land on which the Ayodhya shrine is located has been the subject of a dispute between Hindus and Muslims for many decades. Hindu believers say that this is the place where Rama was born, that there was a temple there before the Mughals demolished it and built the Babri Masjid mosque.
In 2019, the Supreme Court transferred the land to Hindus and allocated a separate plot to Muslims.
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God made me an instrument to represent the people of India during the consecration
The Prime Minister of India called on citizens to light lamps in their homes and in neighboring churches.
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The first stage of construction is complete. The church will be fully built by December 2025. The cost of construction is $181 million. The funds were raised exclusively through donations within the country.