The sports category has moved to a new website.
ADVERTISEMENT

India PM to lay foundation stone for contentious Hindu temple

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for a grand Hindu temple in a highly anticipated ceremony at a holy site that was bitterly contested by Muslims, officials said Sunday.

A supporter of Vishva Hindu Parishad holds a pot filled with sacred soil and water from various Hindu holy spots for use constructing the new temple

Its construction in a flashpoint town in northern India has been a campaign pledge of Modi's Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party since the 1980s.

The Supreme Court ruled in November that a temple could be built in Ayodhya, where Hindu zealots demolished a 460-year-old mosque in 1992.

The ceremony will take place on August 5, which is also the first anniversary of India's controversial revocation of Muslim-majority Kashmir's semi-autonomy.

Modi is expected to lay a silver brick weighing 40 kilos (88 pounds), according to local media.

ADVERTISEMENT

Holy water from the Ganges river and sacred soil taken from four main Hindu shrines will be used in the rituals.

The Indian leader's visit was confirmed by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) which led the campaign to build the temple.

"PM Modi is coming for the ceremony on August 5," VHP spokesman Vinod Bansal told AFP. "There is huge excitement among all our members."

With restrictions on large gatherings in place to curb the spread of coronavirus, only about 200 people will attend the ceremony, Bansal said.

Giant screens near the site will beam the ceremony live for devout Hindus so "they don't miss the golden moment", he added.

ADVERTISEMENT

Residents of Ayodhya have been asked to light earthen lamps to celebrate the "historic" occasion.

The new temple would use about 170,000 cubic feet of stone and will be 38 metres (125 feet) tall and 81 metres long.

It will have its own shed for cows -- considered by Hindus to be sacred -- as well as a huge prayer hall.

Hindus say the site is the birthplace of Lord Ram, one of their most revered deities, and that the mosque torn down in 1992 was constructed over a Hindu temple.

The destruction of the mosque triggered religious riots in which about 2,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed across the country.

ADVERTISEMENT

It also led to a series of court battles with various groups staking claim to the three-acre site, before the Supreme Court's decision last year.

The court said a trust must be set up to oversee the construction of a temple and that a separate piece of land in Ayodhya would be given to a Muslim group to build a "prominent" new mosque.

abh/grk/tom

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: news@pulselive.co.ke

Recommended articles

Meteorological  Department issues alert for WRC Safari Rally fans & drivers

Meteorological Department issues alert for WRC Safari Rally fans & drivers

Marianne Kitany tactfully speaks on whether Ruto should fire her ex, CS Linturi

Marianne Kitany tactfully speaks on whether Ruto should fire her ex, CS Linturi

Gov't & opposition officials clash at Rita Tinina's burial ceremony

Gov't & opposition officials clash at Rita Tinina's burial ceremony

CS Murkomen unveils new number plates for cars that will get preferential treatment

CS Murkomen unveils new number plates for cars that will get preferential treatment

Moi University students escape through windows after road crash

Moi University students escape through windows after road crash

57,000 civil servants to have their rent reviewed upwards

57,000 civil servants to have their rent reviewed upwards

Interesting story of U.S. Army Specialist Wambui who comes from a military family

Interesting story of U.S. Army Specialist Wambui who comes from a military family

Heroic GSU officer dies after jumping out of a taxi along Thika Super Highway

Heroic GSU officer dies after jumping out of a taxi along Thika Super Highway

DJ Joe Mfalme detained for 14 more days

DJ Joe Mfalme detained for 14 more days

ADVERTISEMENT