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NEW DELHI: A grand temple of Lord Ram, worshiped by millions of Hindus, will open in northern India in January at a site believed to be his birthplace, fulfilling a ruling party promise at a site that was a high point for Hindus and Muslims. violence.

The site in the northern city of Ayodhya, where construction of the temple is nearing completion, was bitterly contested for decades by Hindus and Muslims who claimed it.

India’s Hindu majority say the site was the birthplace of Lord Ram, and that it was sacred to them long before Muslim Mughals razed a temple at the site and built the Babri mosque there in 1528.

A Hindu mob destroyed the mosque in 1992, sparking riots that killed about 2,000 people across India, most of them Muslims.

Building a Ram temple at the site has been a central campaign issue of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for more than three decades.

Hindu and Muslim groups have fought over ownership of the site through Indian courts. In 2019, the Supreme Court handed over the land to Hindus and ordered allotment of a separate plot to Muslims.

Muslim groups were unhappy with the verdict, but said they would accept it “with humility.”

Nripendra Misra, president of the Shri Ramjanmabhoomi Temple Construction Committee, said the ground floor of the temple will be ready in December and devotees will be able to pray after the idol of Lord Ram is shifted there in January.

Modi was invited to the conclusion of priests’ prayers in late January, which will mark the inauguration of the temple, said Misra, a retired bureaucrat who was Modi’s principal secretary or chief of staff until 2019, before moving to the independent construction of the temple. panel.

“It will be good if the prime minister is present,” Misra said.

Indian engineering giant Larsen and Toubro is building the temple on a 2.67-acre (1.08-hectare) site within a 70-acre (28.33-hectare) complex, Misra said, adding that the second and final phase would be completed in December 2025.

The project is estimated to cost 15 billion rupees ($181 million) and is funded entirely by donations from 40 million resident Indians totaling more than 30 billion rupees, he said.

About 100,000 devotees are expected to visit the temple daily during the first few months, he added.

BJP leaders and analysts have said the opening of the temple is expected to boost the party’s fortunes in the general elections scheduled for May 2024, when Modi will seek a third term.

When asked if the timing of the opening is related to the elections, Misra replied: “It has nothing to do with the political elections. This was decided in 2020.”