By David Asta Alares
Ayodhya, India, Jan 17 (EFE).- The city of Ayodhya, in northern India, was rushing on Wednesday with the preparations for the inauguration of a temple, believed by Hindus to be the birthplace of Lord Ram, an important deity in Hinduism, and built at the site of a mosque destroyed by a Hindu mob over three decades ago.
Not even nightfall interrupts the frenetic work of hundreds of workers around the temple, as well as in nearby shops and private buildings, ahead of an event on Monday that will feature Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the chief guest, just months before general elections are held in the country in April and May.
It is the famous “vikas”, the development promised by the Indian leader since his arrival in power in 2014, which Kuldeep Kumar highlighted from his tea cart, strategically located in front of the still-under-construction entrance of the temple.
“Look around, the roads are new and there are more people than ever,” he told EFE.
The development in this city comes after the country’s Supreme Court in November 2019 settled a decades-long dispute between Hindus and Muslims over a 16th-century mosque built by Mughal emperor Babur.
India’s top court decided to grant to Hindus the site on which the Babri mosque stood before it was razed in 1992 by a Hindu mob as part of a campaign led by Modi’s now-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Described on Saturday by the president of the Islamic party, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen, Asaduddin Owaisi, as a “criminal act” that Muslims in India “are expected to acquiesce silently,” the demolition sparked clashes between Hindus and Muslims in which 2,000 people died, most of them Muslims.
Sohaib Ilyas, a native of Ayodhya belonging to the Muslim minority and specializing in architectural photography, prefers to focus on the development that has taken place in the city.
“I think since the 1991 issue, the city kind of stopped. No developments happened over the years. So I think post this issue being sorted out, things picked up really fast in terms of infrastructure,” Ilyas told EFE.
In addition to the projects valued at more than $1.8 billion, which include a new airport and a train station, there is a real estate boom, including a spate of five-star hotels, all seek to take advantage of the influx of religious tourists.
“In 2019, it (Ayodhya) welcomed around 20 million visitors, including premier domestic travellers. The annual growth rates for domestic & international tourists have been steady at 7 percent and 10 percent respectively,” says a brochure by the developer The House of Abhinandan Lodha, which is building a luxury complex located a stone’s throw from the temple. EFE
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