In India, moving closer to theocracy
Modi consecrates Hindu temple
AYODHYA, India — When Hindu radicals stormed a 16thcentury mosque in this Indian river town and tore it to the ground in 1992, the demolition mortified India’s leaders, ignited religious riots that killed 2,000 people nationwide, and spurred figures in the Bharatiya Janata Party, accused of inciting the mobs, to issue anguished apologies.
On Monday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a grand Hindu temple on the site of the razed mosque, he spoke not of contrition but of justice achieved and pride restored, of a glorious “new epoch” awaiting the believers of Lord Ram like him.
Thirty-one years after the Babri mosque was destroyed in a seismic event of modern Indian history, Modi’s consecration of a $300 million Hindu temple on the contested hill that many Hindus believe to be the birthplace of a beloved deity marked another watershed for India: the triumph of Hindu nationalist ideology over the secular, multicultural vision espoused by India’s founders.
“We must not bow down anymore. We must not sit down anymore,” Modi said in a speech after he emerged from the shrine’s ornate inner sanctum. “The spirit of Lord Ram is present on the very first page of our constitution. It is unfortunate that we had to fight to prove the existence of our lord.”
Featuring seven shrines, a soaring dome 160 feet high, and grounds encompassing 71 acres, the Ram Temple, in some ways, traces the rise of the Hindu nationalist movement, its most prominent political wing, the BJP, and their effort to remake India into a religious state.
As a fringe political party in the 1980s, the BJP gained national traction by making the construction of the temple a mainstream issue that galvanized the Hindu vote. Many Hindu nationalists believed that a Hindu temple had existed at the site before it was torn down by Muslim conquerors in the 16th century to make way for a mosque built in the name of Babur, founder of the Mughal empire.
The Ram temple campaign, and the BJP’s image, suffered a setback in 1992 when a mob demolished the mosque, shocking the world. But following a decades-long court battle, the Indian Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that a Hindu temple could be built on the hilltop. Modi, reelected resoundingly that year after a heavily Hindu nationalist campaign, laid the foundation stone at the construction site in 2020 as work began.
Modi's ceremony on Monday, attended by Bollywood stars and guests representing various castes, was anticipated in recent weeks by wall-to-wall coverage on pro-government television channels and in ebullient speeches by BJP politicians, who called the project a symbol of a new India proudly steeped in Hinduism, the faith of 80 percent of the population.
Busy intersections in New Delhi have been blanketed by the saffron flag of Lord Ram. Schoolchildren have participated in organized prayers to the god. Shops selling meat, frowned upon in modern Hinduism, have been closed in some states. Government offices and hospitals were ordered shut for a half-day on Monday morning so people could watch Modi and priests imbue the temple with its soul in a “Pran Pratishtha” ceremony.
Raghavan Jagannathan, a right-wing commentator, said the outpouring showed the significance of the temple inauguration in the Hindu psyche after centuries of Muslim and British rule and decades of “self-loathing” under independent India’s early leaders, who emphasized secularism.
“Hindus got the short end of the stick with secularism, where minorities could celebrate their religious identity but majority Hindus had to suppress theirs,” said Jagannathan, author of “Dharmic Nation,” a book stressing India’s essentially religious national character. “That’s why you’re seeing a widespread celebration right now. This temple is a coming-out party for Hindus who say: I can finally be a Hindu without fear.”
Critics feared the state-encouraged religious festivities — and simmering talk of Hindu supremacy and historical vengeance — showed how India under Modi has diverged from the vision of those who struggled for freedom including Mohandas K. Gandhi, a defender of minority rights who often pleaded for the safety of his Muslim compatriots when Hindu-Muslim riots erupted.
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a Modi biographer, said Monday’s event marked “an era when the prime minister is the high priest of Hinduism, blurring all lines between religion and politics on the one hand and between religion and the Indian state on the other.”
“We are on our way to becoming a de facto theocratic state with Hinduism becoming the official religion,” Mukhopadhyay added. “It will be very difficult for the country and its religious minorities to return to what was experienced before 2014.”
Since Modi’s election that year, emboldened Hindu nationalist groups have pushed for legislation discouraging interfaith marriage and Muslim cultural practices. Reports of hate crimes against Muslims have increased. Modi, meanwhile, has become the most powerful and popular leader in decades partly by leaning into his Hindu beliefs.