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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's inauguration of a Hindu temple on the ruins of a historic mosque sparked widespread controversy on social media platforms, amid fears of escalating sectarian tension in India and increased persecution of Muslims.

Modi said during the opening ceremony of the temple - which they call the “God Ram Mandir” - “God Ram will now live in this great temple. This moment is sacred,” adding that “January 22, 2024 is no longer just a date in the calendar... but rather "It is the beginning of a new era."

The inauguration of the temple comes as a culmination of promises to rebuild the “Lord Ram” temple, which were made by the “Bharatiya Janata Party”, which has held the reins of government in India since 2014. The promises are based on building the temple on the ruins of the historic “Babri” Mosque, in the city of Ayodhya in northern India, on... Ramako plateau, sacred to Hindus.

The historic mosque was built by the Mughal Muslim Emperor Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur, while Hindus claim that the latter demolished their temple in 1528 to build the mosque.

Based on these allegations, Hindus carried out repeated attacks on the mosque, until 1992 when the mosque was demolished, and tension escalated at that time between Hindus and Muslims in India, after more than 15,000 Hindus carried out widespread acts of violence, leaving more than two thousand dead.

After conducting an investigation into the demolition, the country's Supreme Court issued a final decision granting the Hindus the land for the mosque, and gave the Muslims an alternative land to build a mosque on.

Warning and fears

In turn, the “Shabakat” program - in its episode dated (01/23/2024) - monitored the interaction of the platform’s audience regarding the inauguration of the Hindu temple on the ruins of the mosque, amid a warning of Hindu incursions against Muslims and the confiscation of their historical monuments.

In this context, Mustafa says through his account, “An event like this should not go unnoticed. If it does, all the mosques in India will be demolished, and what happened yesterday, Monday, will happen to them. We must not remain silent about this act.”

For his part, Muhammad warned of the expected repercussions of what happened, and said that there are “expectations of escalation of sectarian tension in India with the opening of the Ram Mandir temple by Prime Minister Modi,” noting that “the site that has historically sparked controversy is witnessing celebrations, and observers see the event as a threat to secularism.” .

As for Muhammad Mahmoud, he said that the inauguration of the temple was “the culmination of a national movement aimed at consolidating Hindu supremacy in India by mobilizing the Hindu majority in the country across sects and tribes.”

But Aso adopted the historical Hindu narrative about the issue, and said, “The mosque was built on a Hindu temple, and the entire site is sacred to the Hindus. That is why they returned it, even though I do not support (not support) the demolition of historical places.”

It should be noted that the opening of the temple is considered a prominent event for many Hindus, as the opening day was a holiday for schools and departments, while pregnant women requested caesarean sections to give birth on this date.

The authorities expected the number of visitors to the new temple - which consists of 3 floors and is valued at $217 million - to reach more than 150,000 visitors per day once it is fully equipped.

Source: Al Jazeera