“(Today) is the beginning of a new time cycle,” Modi said at the new temple honoring Hindu deity Lord Ram. “After centuries of waiting, our Ram has arrived.”
According to observers, the consecration of a contentious Hindu temple represents the country’s radical departure from its secular founding principles, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi flouts laws separating church and state in an attempt to secure an unprecedented third term this year.
In the holy town of Ayodhya, Modi oversaw the opulent inauguration ceremony of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir last month, keeping a long-standing pledge to voters that helped catapult him and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power in 2014.
The founding founders of the current nation had very different views from Modi’s conception of a “divine India.” In order to further his Hindu nationalist goal, the prime minister has immersed himself in religious discourse over his nearly ten years in office, alienating millions of members of India’s large religious minorities.
Political scientist Gilles Verniers, a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, said, “This moment is a new departure for India, no longer a secular republic, and the culmination of a political project that has been 100 years in the making.”
India turns into a de facto Hindu nation, with the state taking on the responsibility of creating national Hindu religious symbols.
‘King of Gods’
The Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque that was demolished by radical Hindus in 1992 and caused a wave of deadly sectarian violence not witnessed in India since the country’s brutal 1947 division, is the location of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir.
Thousands of carefully chosen visitors, including billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, attended the temple’s inauguration, which was broadcast live to millions of viewers nationwide.
Billboards commemorating the temple’s opening in Ayodhya showed the Hindu deity Ram next to Prime Minister Modi’s face; the BJP chief even dubbed the prime minister “The King of Gods.”
Prior to the occasion, Modi observed an 11-day fast as a purification rite and traveled to temples all around the nation, carrying out traditions sacred to the majority of Indians.
Declaring in the open that he was “an instrument” of Lord Ram and that the gods had made him “represent all the people of India,”
In a position normally held by priests, Modi oversaw the “Pran Pratishtha” at the consecration, which involved revealing the much awaited Ram idol. Most people were in favor of the leader’s actions, and his followers applauded him for taking them.
However, other Hindus view Modi’s acts as a political capitalist betrayal of their religion.
The day before the temple opened, Indian American activist Sunita Viswanath, who is also a member of the US-based Hindus for Human Rights group, released a statement stating, “This is obviously an electoral stunt, it should not be happening in the name of my faith.”
Leading this ritual for political benefit is incorrect on both a technical and moral level because Modi is not a priest. What remains of India’s secularism is trampled by this weaponization of our faith.
However, some argue that Modi has succeeded where his predecessors failed by erasing distinctions between religion and state.
“Part of this is about establishing his reputation in India as a pious person who keeps his word,” stated Ravi Agrawal, the chief editor of Foreign Policy and a former head of CNN’s New Delhi bureau.
“This is a highly well-liked move that, despite criticism, is still well-liked in a nation that is 80% Hindu.”
Hindu right emboldened
As he campaigned to overhaul India’s economy and usher in a new era of growth in 2014, Modi also vigorously promoted the Hindutva agenda, which holds that India should become a place belonging to Hindus.
Analysts claim that Modi’s Hindutva ideas grew more overt when he ran for reelection in 2019.
A few months after winning, he declared he was going to divide Jammu and Kashmir, the only territory in India with a majority of Muslims, into two union territories and place them under federal jurisdiction. Later that year, his government enacted a contentious citizenship bill that many believed to be anti-Muslim.
He also restated the party’s intention to erect the Ram Temple on the disputed sacred location.
The Babri Masjid is thought by many Hindus to have been constructed on the remains of a Hindu temple that Babar, the first Mughal ruler of South Asia, is said to have destroyed in 1528. They had been fighting to demolish the mosque and build a temple for years.
The conflict peaked in 1992 when Hindu fundamentalists assaulted the mosque, incited by the BJP and right-wing organizations. This led to widespread communal violence across the country, which claimed the lives of over 2,000 people.
The decades-long controversy was resolved in 2019 when India’s Supreme Court gave Hindus permission to build the temple, a success for Modi and his allies but a setback for millions of Muslims who fear that religious tensions are deepening under Modi’s BJP rule.
Although the Indian government disputes that it discriminates against minorities, many claim that the celebrations last week have merely given right-wing Hindus more confidence to target minorities without repercussions.
Local police said that there were three recorded altercations between Muslims and Hindus in western Maharashtra state, as communal tensions increased.
A gang of right-wing Hindus was observed in a different event in the central state of Madhya Pradesh state, putting saffron flags atop a Christian church. Hinduism and this color go hand in hand.
India’s majoritarian tendencies have grown. India’s nationalist views have grown. India now supports Hinduism more, according to Agrawal. “This is partially because of the government’s ability to highlight India’s past and the wrongs they believe the country has endured.”
Shedding colonialism, correcting injustice
Modi has positioned himself as a disruptor of India’s colonial past since taking office almost ten years ago, frequently using impassioned language in his rallies.
He has taken attempts to guide the nation away from what the administration has referred to as the “vestiges of British rule,” emphasizing the need to “liberate (India) from the slavery mindset.”
Modi has also said things concerning the Mughals, who ruled a large portion of India from 1526 to 1858 and were the country’s previous Islamic rulers. Hardline Hindus, including some BJP members, hold the belief that the period was marked by oppression under Muslim control.
For many years, Hindu organizations have maintained that the Mughals demolished Hindu temples and replaced them with mosques and other structures. Many of these cases are currently being discussed in national courts, a development that worries Indian liberals since it may lead to further violence and division.
In a significant religious issue that occurred just last week, a court in Varanasi decided that Hindus might pray inside the disputed Gyanvapi mosque, which was constructed by the old Mughal ruler Aurangzeb and is allegedly located on the site of a Hindu temple that was destroyed.
In reference to the monarch who passed away more than three centuries ago, Modi stated in a speech in 2022, “Aurangzeb severed many heads, but he could not shake our faith.”
According to Foreign Policy’s Agrawal, the administration “sees itself as addressing these injustices” as the nation prepares for a general election that is anticipated to take place in April and May.
Political scientist Gilles claimed that the manifestation of Hindu nationalism at the Ram Temple last week demonstrated the strength of the BJP’s relationship with India’s commercial and cultural.
He described the opening of the temple as a “dark day for India’s religious minorities.”
“They are now formally considered second-class citizens.”