New Delhi CNN –
Saffron flags fly in the Hindu-majority city of Ayodhya as excited locals prepare to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the inauguration of a new multi-million dollar temple.
But like many of the city's 500,000 Muslims, 65-year-old Maulana Badshah Khan says he will stay home.
He fears a repeat of the religious violence that erupted more than 30 years ago when Hindu nationalists destroyed the Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque, sparking unrest across the country.
On Monday, Modi will officially open the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir, a magnificent temple built on the same site that analysts say is a monument to Hindu nationalist ambitions.
Khan believes the celebration is a clear sign of how Muslims are being marginalized under the leadership of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“The wounds of Babri Mosque demolition will always be there. Even if we are desperate to say them,” Khan said.
“The temple has the symbolic value of showing Muslims their place in New India.”
Anxiety and fear
More than 7,000 people were invited to Ayodhya to witness the ceremony in person, including senior politicians who traveled from across the vast country to attend. And tens of thousands of devout Hindus flock to the small town to place flowers and gifts inside the temple.
Amid this growing crowd, there is concern among Muslims of Ayodhya.
Azam Qadri, the 39-year-old leader of a local religious community, said those who witnessed the 1992 violence fear the arrival of outsiders.
“Every time people come from outside there is trouble. You can no longer afford to lose your valuable possessions, savings or identification documents. It’s not easy to start life again,” he said.
Douglas E. Curran/AFP/Getty Images
Hindu fundamentalists use iron rods to attack the wall of the 16th-century Babri Masjid mosque at a disputed holy site in the city of Ayodhya in 1992.
Haji Mahboob, who lost two relatives during the 1992 violence, said local Muslims were worried that emboldened crowds would chant provocative slogans against them.
“They will demand the expulsion of Muslims from Ayodhya or demand a Hindu Rashtra (nation),” he said.
Mahboob said there is now a feeling of hopelessness in his community.
Many Muslims believed the controversy could end in 2019 when the Supreme Court granted Hindus permission to build the temple on the disputed site, he said. But instead, emboldened Hindus began targeting more mosques across the country and campaigned to demolish them too.
“The Hindus can't stand us, they can't see us, what can we do?” he said.
Modi came to power in 2014 promising to reform the country's economy and usher in a new era of development – but he also pushed hard for a Hindutva agenda, an ideology that posits that India is a country for Hindus should be.
Many states have passed laws that critics say are rooted in Hindutva and discriminate against Muslims, including laws that make it increasingly difficult for interfaith couples to marry and ban the slaughter and transportation of cows, an animal considered sacred to Hindus.
And one of Modi's key promises to his voters was to build the Ram temple on the site of the deconsecrated mosque, and he hopes the construction will strengthen his chances of a rare third election victory this year.
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of “The Demolition and the Verdict,” a book about the mosque's demolition in 1992, said Modi's decision to lead Monday's celebrations was a sign of Hindu hegemony in India.
Modi's participation in the ceremony was a sign that the line between state and religion was becoming increasingly blurred, he said.
Mukhopadhyay added that the mood among Muslims was not one of celebration. He has heard that Muslims advise each other not to take the train, not to drive alone and not to wear clothing that identifies them as Muslim.
“There will be great sadness but also great fear (among India's Muslims),” he said.
Speaking to CNN, BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said that Muslims are not marginalized in India and that the inauguration of Ram Mandir was a “cause for celebration.”
“In terms of the work, initiatives and development agenda of Prime Minister Modi's government, there is not a single plan, program or anything that differentiates between Indian citizens on the basis of their religion, caste or region,” he said.
In the years following the demolition of the Babri Mosque, Hindu nationalists rallied to build the Ram Mandir on the site of the destroyed mosque, setting the stage for an emotional and politically charged showdown that alarmed Indian liberals, who feared further outbursts feared sectarian violence.
The 2019 verdict, which paved the way for the construction of the Ram Mandir, also provided land to the city's Muslims to build another mosque, about 25 kilometers from the Ram Mandir in a village called Dhannipur.
Mahboob, one of the plaintiffs fighting for the Babri mosque in the Supreme Court, said the construction had no emotional impact on most Muslims of Ayodhya.
Amit Dave/Portal
Muslims pray for peace ahead of the verdict at a disputed religious site in Ayodhya, on the grounds of a mosque in Ahmedabad, India, November 8, 2019.
“If they had built the mosque near Babri, we could have tried to convince ourselves that no injustice would befall us. However, this land is so far away that construction hasn't even begun yet. So what do we say?”
Late last year, Arafat Shaikh – a member of the BJP – was appointed to head the construction of the mosque. He told CNN that he had never set foot in Ayodhya before taking on the role.
He said the delays were due to disagreements over the design of the building, but believes the new mosque will be unique as it will be the first in India to have five minarets.
Among other ambitious plans, Shaikh says he wants additional land for educational institutions, a vegetarian kitchen and a 21-foot-long Koran painted with saffron – a color closely linked to Hinduism but which is increasingly politicized and appropriated Hindu right.
Shaikh said the color was chosen because Gharib Nawaz, a famous Sufi saint, also worshiped saffron.
“It will bring the two communities closer together,” he said.
Right-wing Hindu nationalist organizations say the opening of the temple is a symbol of a new Hindu nation.
“The Mughals tried to change us, then the English tried to change us, but the inauguration of the Ram temple shows the world that our Hindu traditions, practices and beliefs are still intact. “There will be a resurrection of Hindu civilization in New India,” said Vinod Bansal, spokesman for the right-wing group Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
Mahant Jairam Das, the local leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP's parent organization, said he did not believe the mosque in Ayodhya should not be built, but instead claimed calls to build the building were a “call to war”.
“Go to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or a Muslim-dominated country. Why build such a mosque in India?” he said.
For Hassan Ali, who was just nine years old when he spent two nights in a local police station to escape the violence of 1992, the sectarian fault lines are clearly visible.
“In 1992 there were many stories about local Hindus and Muslims helping each other. But now people are being given a lot more poison,” he said. “So you can’t say anything more. You can’t tell what people have in their hearts.”