New Delhi
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke ground on Wednesday for a temple dedicated to the Hindu god Ram, at the site of a demolished 16th-century mosque. Modi offered prayers to nine stone blocks with Ram inscribed on them and kept in a small pit amid chanting of Hindu religious hymns to symbolise the start of construction of the temple, which is expected to take three and a half years to complete. The blocks will serve as the monument’s foundation stones. “It’s an emotional and historic moment. Wait has been worthwhile,” said Lal Krishna Advani, a 92-year-old leader of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party who was at the forefront of the party’s temple campaign in the 1990s.—Agencies
