AYODHYA: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Wednesday (Aug 5) lay the foundation for a temple at a flashpoint holy site exactly a year after imposing direct rule on Muslim-majority Kashmir – twin triumphs for his Hindu nationalist government.
The site of Ayodhya and divided Kashmir have been two of the most divisive communal issues of the past 30 years in India, and Modi has attempted to draw a line under both in his second term.
Advertisement
Advertisement
The site of Ayodhya and divided Kashmir have been two of the most divisive communal issues of the past 30 years in India. (Photo: AFP/SANJAY KANOJIA)
For his fans both steps confirm Modi as a decisive, visionary leader, and India's most important in decades.
His critics see him as remoulding the country as a Hindu nation, at the expense of India's 200 million Muslims, and taking it in authoritarian direction.
"Modi has certainly been India's most transformative leader in recent memory," Micheal Kugelman from the Wilson Center told AFP.
Advertisement
Advertisement
"This has made him wildly popular, but also highly controversial and quite divisive."
The holy city of Ayodhya in northern India has long been a fault line in India's religious divisions, and has been the spark for some of its worst sectarian violence.
Modi's Hindu nationalist supporters hail him as a visionary. (Photo: AFP/SANJAY KANOJIA)
Devout Hindus believe that Lord Ram, the warrior god, was born there some 7,000 years ago but that a mosque was constructed on top of his birthplace in the 16th century.
In the 1980s a Hindu movement began to agitate for the mosque to be removed and in 1992 a mob demolished it with shovels, pickaxes and their bare hands.
This triggered religious riots that killed 2,000 people, most of them Muslims.
A lengthy legal battle ensued but in November, in a major victory for the BJP, India's top court awarded the site to Hindus, allowing a temple "touching the sky" to be built.
"(It's) a huge achievement for (Modi). He is going to make his position permanently in history purely on the strength of this temple," biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay told AFP.
RIGHTING WRONGS
Further cementing his place in India's annals is Kashmir, divided between India and Pakistan since 1947, the spark for two wars and the source of much bloodshed.
The BJP has long seen the special status enjoyed by th 5 last year Modi abolished it.
An accompanying security operation turned the region into a fortress for weeks with all telecommunications cut and thousands taken into custody.
Indian-administered Kashmir was placed under lockdown for the anniversary AFP
Now, people from outside Kashmir are being granted domicile rights for the first time, giving them the right to buy land and claim government jobs.
This has stoked fears that Modi wants to change Muslim-majority Kashmir's demographic and religious makeup along the lines of Israel's actions in the West Bank.
"What I see unfolding is a Hindu settler colonial proRead More – Source
AYODHYA: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Wednesday (Aug 5) lay the foundation for a temple at a flashpoint holy site exactly a year after imposing direct rule on Muslim-majority Kashmir – twin triumphs for his Hindu nationalist government.
The site of Ayodhya and divided Kashmir have been two of the most divisive communal issues of the past 30 years in India, and Modi has attempted to draw a line under both in his second term.
Advertisement
Advertisement
The site of Ayodhya and divided Kashmir have been two of the most divisive communal issues of the past 30 years in India. (Photo: AFP/SANJAY KANOJIA)
For his fans both steps confirm Modi as a decisive, visionary leader, and India's most important in decades.
His critics see him as remoulding the country as a Hindu nation, at the expense of India's 200 million Muslims, and taking it in authoritarian direction.
"Modi has certainly been India's most transformative leader in recent memory," Micheal Kugelman from the Wilson Center told AFP.
Advertisement
Advertisement
"This has made him wildly popular, but also highly controversial and quite divisive."
The holy city of Ayodhya in northern India has long been a fault line in India's religious divisions, and has been the spark for some of its worst sectarian violence.
Modi's Hindu nationalist supporters hail him as a visionary. (Photo: AFP/SANJAY KANOJIA)
Devout Hindus believe that Lord Ram, the warrior god, was born there some 7,000 years ago but that a mosque was constructed on top of his birthplace in the 16th century.
In the 1980s a Hindu movement began to agitate for the mosque to be removed and in 1992 a mob demolished it with shovels, pickaxes and their bare hands.
This triggered religious riots that killed 2,000 people, most of them Muslims.
A lengthy legal battle ensued but in November, in a major victory for the BJP, India's top court awarded the site to Hindus, allowing a temple "touching the sky" to be built.
"(It's) a huge achievement for (Modi). He is going to make his position permanently in history purely on the strength of this temple," biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay told AFP.
RIGHTING WRONGS
Further cementing his place in India's annals is Kashmir, divided between India and Pakistan since 1947, the spark for two wars and the source of much bloodshed.
The BJP has long seen the special status enjoyed by th 5 last year Modi abolished it.
An accompanying security operation turned the region into a fortress for weeks with all telecommunications cut and thousands taken into custody.
Indian-administered Kashmir was placed under lockdown for the anniversary AFP
Now, people from outside Kashmir are being granted domicile rights for the first time, giving them the right to buy land and claim government jobs.
This has stoked fears that Modi wants to change Muslim-majority Kashmir's demographic and religious makeup along the lines of Israel's actions in the West Bank.
"What I see unfolding is a Hindu settler colonial proRead More – Source
