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Hindu hardliners vow to built temple in Ayodhya

By AFP
November 26, 2018

AYODHYA, India: Tens of thousands of Hindu hardliners rallied on Sunday for a temple to be built at a disputed Indian holy site, where an ancient mosque was razed in 1992 sparking deadly riots.

Huge crowds of saffron-clad protesters, some waving swords and chanting "Praise Be to Ram", massed in Ayodhya in northern Uttar Pradesh state where right-wing Hindu groups want a grand temple to their god constructed.

Organisers had expected 300,000 demonstrators to attend rallies in Ayodhya and two other Indian cities, with protesters arriving by bus and train throughout the day. Security measures were beefed up, with some 5,000 additional police deployed to protest areas, especially in Ayodhya.

Many Hindus believe a spot there marks the birthplace of Ram and that a medieval mosque that stood there for 460 years was only built after the destruction of an earlier temple. Hindu zealots reduced the Babri Mosque to rubble in 1992, kicking off riots across India that left thousands dead, most of them Muslims.

The site remains a flashpoint between Hindus and India’s sizeable Muslim minority and the show of force by hardliners comes two weeks before the 26th anniversary of the mosque’s destruction.

Huge banners bearing images of the mosque being torn down by sledgehammer-wielding radicals hung at the protest, where hardline leaders called for parliament to pass a law allowing for the temple’s construction.

Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister Yogi Adityanath, a firebrand monk who has long campaigned for the temple, unveiled plans Sunday to build the world’s largest statue in Ayodhya -- a 221-metre bronze likeness of Ram.

The temple controversy has been tied up in courts for decades but some hardline groups are applying pressure to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue ahead of general elections in the next six months.

Modi, who is running for a second term, has faced some disquiet from his core supporters who feel that he has not done enough for the cause, despite his parliamentary majority. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) he rules is a Hindu nationalist outfit with ties to some of the hardline groups rallying in Ayodhya, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Shiv Sena. "The emotions of Hindus should not be taken for granted," said Uddhav Thackeray, the head of Shiv Sena, as quoted by the Press Trust of India.

VHP leader leader Champat Rai told demonstrators they would only accept "the entire area" for the Ram temple and would not consider sharing the site with Muslims.