India opens the doors of the temple to the god Ram, seen as “The Mecca of Hinduism”

The doors of the controversial temple to the god Ram opened on Monday in India with the consecration ceremonies of the sacred place, which is located where Hindus claim that this god was born, and where more than thirty years ago a mosque was erected that was demolished by Hindu fanatics.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with dozens of priests, began a series of rites to consecrate the Hindu temple, which houses the city of Ayodhya, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, according to a live broadcast.

The ceremony “It is developed along the lines of Vatican City (the seat of the Roman Catholic Church) and Mecca (Islam’s holiest city). Will become a symbol of Hindutva”, the president of the Hindu extremist organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Rabindra Narain Singh, had explained last month.

India is experiencing a rise in the ideology of “Hindutva,” an idea that Hindus are the true Indians, while Christians, Muslims and other religious minorities are interlopers who should be expelled or marginalized.

Along with Modi, the head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), considered the ideological father of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mohan Bhagwat, and the head of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, the controversial Hindu priest, Yogi Adityanath, They participate in the rituals prior to the inauguration of the temple.

Thousands of faithful, including several celebrities and political figures, traveled in recent days to Ayodhya, whose streets are packed with Hindus dressed in saffron clothing, sacred to Hinduism, while music and prayers resonate under thousands of flags that They fly in honor of the god Ram.

India has been paralyzed by this event: several states such as Uttar Pradesh, the central Madhya Pradesh, or the western Goa and Maharashtra, among others, announced the closure of schools and businesses and declared the day a holiday, while the Indian Government decreed the closure of all its offices and public sector banks and financial institutions until the end of the ceremony.

Located on the banks of the Sarayu River, this Hindu temple stands on the ruins of a mosque built in the 16th century by the Mughal emperor Babar, and razed in 1992 by a mob of Hindu fanatics in a campaign led by a Hindu extremist organization and the Modi’s now ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The demolition was followed by a wave of violence between Hindus and Muslims in which 2,000 people died, mostly belonging to the latter community, which in 2011 represented 14.2% of the population or 172 million people, according to the last census carried out.

According to Hindus, the mosque was built on a previous temple, which marked the exact birthplace of the god Ram, and the Supreme Court of India ended up agreeing with this version in 2019 and allowing the construction of a new temple.