Union Home Minister Amit Shah Thursday announced that the temple of Ram in Ayodhya will be inaugurated on January 1, 2024.
The temple is being built in place of a Mughal-era mosque, which was demolished by a Hindutva mob in 1992, triggering nationwide anti-Muslim violence in which more than 2,000 Muslims were killed.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rose to national prominence on the back of the temple movement launched in the 1980s.
Hindutva groups had claimed that the 16th-century Babri Masjid, named after Mughal emperor Babur (1483-1530), was built at the place where Ram was born in Ayodhya.
In 2019 November, the Supreme Court awarded the mosque site to Hindu petitioners, handing the BJP a victory to drive home its Hindu nationalist agenda.
Addressing a public rally in election-bound Tripura, Shah said that the Congress and CPI(M) had hindered the construction of the temple and put the issue in the jurisdiction of the court for long, news agency PTI reported. “… After the Supreme Court verdict came, Modiji began the construction of the temple,” he said.
“Rahul baba, listen from Sabroom, that a mammoth Ram Mandir will be ready on January 1, 2024,” the home minister said.
