Ayodhya temple inauguration gives Modi popularity boost ahead of polls

The Ram temple is being constructed by a trust set up by the Indian government. It sits on a 2.7-acre site within a vast complex covering an area of 70 acres.

Supporters of the temple believe the Babri Masjid was built on the spot where Ram was born. However, prominent historians and scholars find no evidence to support the claim.

Decades-long campaign

The temple's opening marks the fulfilment of a decades-long Hindu nationalist campaign, which led to the destruction of the Babri mosque on 6 December 1992 by a mob of tens of thousands of "Karsevaks" (religious workers) who descended on Ayodhya in response to the calls made by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP's ideological fountainhead, and its affiliates like the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

More than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, lost their lives in the violence across India in the aftermath of the mosque's destruction.

As legal and political battles continued over the site, India's Supreme Court in November 2019 handed the site over to Hindus to build the temple despite maintaining that the razing of the mosque was illegal. Muslims decried the decision, but they had no choice other than to accept the verdict since the country's highest court delivered it.

The mosque was built in approximately 1528-29 by Mir Baqi — a commander serving under Mughal Emperor Babur. The court allotted five acres of land to Muslims to build a new mosque 25 km from the Ram temple. The project has been delayed, and whenever the mosque is eventually built, it will not be named the Babri Masjid, nor will it resemble the historic mosque in its design.

Riding on the back of the Ram temple movement, the BJP transformed from being a marginal party in the 1980s into a massive political force.

Muslims accused the Congress party of letting the dispute fester into a nationally divisive issue through its peddling of "soft Hindutva."

An example of this was in 1949 when Hindus placed idols in the mosque in the middle of the night when Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister. Instead of ordering their removal, the mosque's gates were shut following the row.

In 1986, when the Congress was in power and Nehru's grandson, Rajiv Gandhi, was the prime minister, the gates were unlocked to allow Hindu worshippers inside.

The Congress party government and P.V. Narasimha Rao, the then-prime minister, were accused of inaction, even complicity, when the mosque was razed to the ground in 1992 by frenzied mobs brought into Ayodhya from all over India.

The BJP has made the temple's construction a central pillar of its nationalist policies. Modi laid its foundation stone on 5 August 2020. While not fully ready, the temple's basic structure was good enough to hold the ceremony to consecrate the 51-inch tall black stone idol.

Ayodhya aims to be a major religious tourism hub for devout Hindus from India and the Hindu diaspora.

The Ram temple's estimated cost is $217mn while hundreds of millions are being spent to develop the city's infrastructure. Private investments in hotels and other facilities usually associated with tourist attractions are planned.

"This marvel of engineering stands as a symbol of endurance designed and constructed to last a thousand years," said S.N. Subrahmanyan, chairman of Larsen & Toubro company.

The BJP has used its two terms in power to ensure India's billionaires (and the media groups they own) are aligned with its policies and Hindutva ideology.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat glorified Modi's persona in their speeches.

Meanwhile, the Hindu diaspora across the world was also encouraged to hold events and ceremonies to coincide with the Ayodhya ceremony.

Among the 7,000 guests attending the inauguration were former cricket captain Sachin Tendulkar, film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Katrina Kaif, Rajnikant, Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, and some of India's top businessmen, including Reliance Industries boss Mukesh Ambani.  While Modi's presence dwarfed them, their attendance did generate extra publicity.

While the temple consecration ceremony drew accusations of political opportunism from the BJP's rivals, the opposition cannot counter the publicity boost Modi's re-election bid has received in Ayodhya.

The BJP is not only expected to win a third term this year but also aims to extend its rule beyond 2029 by exploiting the opposition's disunity.

For now, India's opposition parties seem to have the odds stacked against them. They simply cannot compete with the BJP's money, power, mass mobilisation tools and media control.

The Congress and its allies have failed to exploit the BJP's unfulfilled promises. At the same time, Modi continues to maintain popularity on the promises of the future — for example, his goal of making India a "developed country" by 2047.

On their part, Muslims — who are about 15% of the population and can play an important role during elections — remain wary of the Congress because it never made a genuine effort to regain the community's trust it lost after the Babri Masjid's demolition.