Ornate Indian Hindu temple will open on old mosque site, fulfilling Modi’s election promise

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is close to fulfilling a decade-old election promise months out from nationwide polls with the announcement that a controversial new Hindu temple will open on disputed land in January.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is close to fulfilling a decade-old election promise months out from nationwide polls with the announcement that a controversial new Hindu temple will open on disputed land in January.

The first detailed descriptions of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir were released on Thursday, showing the lavishly decorated structure that is being built on the site of the Babri Masjid that was destroyed by right-wing Hindu mobs in 1992.

Located in the holy city of Ayodhya in the electorally significant state of Uttar Pradesh, the temple’s interiors will be adorned with gold bars and artwork that celebrates India’s diversity, according to Nripendra Misra, chairman of the temple’s construction committee.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP has campaigned for decades to construct a temple at the site, widely believed by devotees to be where Lord Ram, one of the most revered deities in Hinduism, was born.

Muslims claim the land because the mosque was built there in 1528. But many Hindus believe the Babri Masjid was built on the ruins of a Hindu temple, which was allegedly destroyed by Babar, the first Mughal emperor of South Asia.

The temple’s opening is expected to give Modi’s party a boost in the lead up to the election, making true on a promise he made to his supporters nearly a decade ago.

However, Misra said the date of its inauguration has got “nothing to do whatsoever” with the upcoming national elections.