India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a temple Monday that embodies the triumph of his muscular Hindu nationalist politics, galvanising loyalists in an unofficial start to his re-election campaign this year. But for Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the opening of the Ram Mandir temple is a landmark moment in a decades-long campaign to align the country's governance with its majority faith. - 'Destruction' -Modi and the BJP have sought to bring the Hindu faith to the forefront of public life since sweeping to power a decade ago. The destruction presaged the rise of the BJP and Modi as unstoppable electoral juggernauts, displacing the secularist Congress party that had governed India almost without interruption since independence from Britain. Mohammed Shahid, 52, speaking to AFP last month in Ayodhya, recounted how his father was burned alive by a mob.

Source: Ethiopian News January 22, 2024 05:42 UTC