AYODHYA, India: The flashpoint Indian town of Ayodhya geared up on Tuesday for a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay the foundations for a Hindu temple on the ruins of a mosque destroyed by a mob in 1992. The building of the temple in northern India, starting on Wednesday with a colourful rite broadcast live on TV, has long been a pledge of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. A mosque stood on the site for almost 500 years until it was demolished by Hindu zealots in 1992.
