Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the largest traditional stone Hindu temple in the Middle East and the first in the wealthy Gulf emirate in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
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“This temple has given new energy to India-UAE relations,” said the Indian leader, who was visiting the country for the third time in eight months.
“It will become a symbol of religious unity and global harmony,” he added.
AFP
Around 3.5 million Indian nationals live in the Emirates, the largest expatriate community in the Muslim country.
The imposing, carved pink stone building, which covers an area of 55,000 square meters, is the largest Hindu temple built of traditional stone in the Middle East, according to authorities.
AFP
The model was unveiled in February 2018 during Narendra Modi's previous visit to the Emirates.
“We are currently living in the golden age of Indian faith and culture,” the Indian leader said a few weeks before the general elections in his country, emphasizing his “luck” to have attended the inauguration of the Abu Dhabi Temple and the Abu Dhabi Temple Consecration to have Ayodhya.
AFP
On January 22, in a gesture that symbolized the triumph of his Hindu nationalist politics, Mr. Modi inaugurated the temple in Ayodhya in northern India, on the site of a mosque demolished by Hindu fanatics in 1992.
This destruction triggered the worst religious unrest in the country since independence, in which around 2,000 people died.
The BAPS Hindu Mandir is located in Abu Mureikhah district, near the highway that connects the capital Abu Dhabi with the neighboring emirate of Dubai, which also opened a Hindu temple last year. It is a testament to the importance of the Indian community in the Emirates, which includes both workers and managers.
AFP
Relations between the two countries have gradually strengthened since Mr. Modi's historic visit to the Emirates in 2015, the first by an Indian prime minister in over 30 years.
As part of this new two-day visit, the Indian leader attended the World Government Summit in Dubai on Wednesday, an event that brought together business and political figures.
AFP
The day before, he had addressed 40,000 Indian expatriates at a stadium in the capital and met Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan for the fifth time in eight months.
Notably, the two men signed a bilateral investment agreement based on an economic partnership agreement concluded in 2022, the Indian Foreign Ministry said.
AFP
The Gulf state is India's third largest trading partner with a bilateral trade volume of around 85 billion US dollars (around 79 billion euros) between 2022 and 2023.