The plane ride, one of the first to make the direct Delhi-Ayodhya connection, quickly set the tone for the atmosphere waiting on the tarmac. Of the “Jai Shri Ram” (“Glory to Lord Ram”) and other chants punctuated much of the flight transporting the first Hindus to the holy city of Uttar Pradesh, in northern India.
On arrival, groups of men draped in saffron and brandishing flags in the colors of Hinduism waited in a brand new airport, inaugurated a few days earlier by Narendra Modi and adorned with a huge mural depicting the life of Ram . The Indian state has never invested so much money – the equivalent of more than 3 billion euros – in a town of barely 55,000 inhabitants. Four-lane roads, bridges, parking lots, renovation of buildings, Ayodhya must be the example, according to Uttar Pradesh chief minister and fanatical monk Yogi Adityanath. “of the new India”a devout India where politics and religion become one.
Entirely dedicated to Ram, “prince of Ayodhya”, the city displays everywhere, even on bus shelters, images of this revered god and of Hanuman, the monkey god, the two heroes of the epic of Ramayana. Store owners, Hindu or Muslim, had no choice: their storefronts, repainted by the government, now display the words “Jai shri Ram” as well as Hindu symbols, including the swastika.
To reach Ayodhya, a majestic thirteen-kilometer road, nicknamed the Rampath, the “path of Ram”, required the destruction of thousands of houses, shops, temples and mosques. It is this road that the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will take, Monday January 22, to inaugurate the Ram Mandir, the temple dedicated to this god considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu, during an exceptional ceremony in all points of view.
The weapon of the third term
The Prime Minister will be at the center of the event. He dismissed all the historical actors in the battle around this temple, personalizing the inauguration to the extreme, to the point of arousing the anger of religious people, who denounce its political use, and the boycott of the opposition. During the laying of the foundation stone on August 5, 2020, Narendra Modi compared the event to Independence Day.
The entire country was invited. Ephemeral tent villages were set up nearby, on the banks of the Sarayu River, one of the tributaries of the Ganges, to accommodate thousands of devotees. Dozens of private jets will transport the Indian elite, industrialists, Bollywood stars, politicians, 7,500 people are expected. Giant screens, installed throughout the country and in major Indian embassies around the world, will broadcast live the moment when Modi, surrounded by Hindu priests, will install a statue of Ram in the sanctuary.
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