India PM inaugurates controversial temple while eyeing upcoming elections

Published

8 months ago

January 22, 2024

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A 19th-century dispute, which has gone through decades of court procedures, has finally culminated in the Ram Temple.

Consecrated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this temple site is believed to be the birthplace of Lord Ram, one of the most revered gods in the Hindu pantheon.

The city of Ayodhya in India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh is all decked up.

Saffron flags, cut-outs of Lord Ram, strings of marigold flowers, decorative lights shaped in Hindu symbols and new paintwork have transformed this sleepy, little rundown town.

Large LED screens display the consecration across the country, while Indian embassies carry it across the world and even on a sponsored screen at Times Square in New York.

Namit Khanna, who has come from Singapore to witness the ceremony, tells Sky News “It’s a civilisation moment that I feel for all of us in India, and it has been a struggle of so many years of our ancestors.”

Rishab Kaushal says: “This is like a different world, the 500-year gap has been completed. We are all so happy. We’ve been given a new festival… Today we’ve been given our Lord.”

Holding her 7-month-old baby, Preeti says: “Our forefathers had died waiting for such a moment. And today we are so happy. And we wish to thank Modi for this, that we can see the temple constructed in our lifetime.”

Mr Modi is omnipresent. His presence in the temple town cannot be missed and everyone credits him with the construction of the Ram Temple.

While only 8,000 people have been officially invited over 100,000 have converged on the city including Bollywood royalty, industrialists, cultural icons, sportspersons, and diplomats.

According to the Temple Trust, donations have exceeded over 4trn rupees (£38bn), pouring in from far and wide.

Conspicuous of their absence are opposition party leaders who have called the inauguration a political project by Mr Modi and his ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. They will stay away from today’s programme and come another day.

A number of senior Hindu priests and heads of four major shrines, the Shankaracharyas, have also refused to attend on the grounds that consecrating an unfinished temple undermines scripture.

For years the construction of the temple has been one of the most controversial and contentious issues in modern India.

Both Hindus and Muslims have laid claim to the 2.77-acre plot – the size of a football field – on which stood the Babri Mosque since the 16th century. Hindus believe that the Mughal Emperor Babur destroyed an original Ram temple and built the Babri mosque on the exact same spot in 1528.

In 1949, idols of Lord Ram were found in the central dome of the mosque and a large number of Hindus began to pray there. This led to protests by Muslims and the government locked the gates of the mosque, declaring it a disputed site.

In the 1980s, right-wing Hindu organisations and the BJP seized on the Ram Janam Bhoomi Ayodhya movement as a sort of Hindu renaissance. A promise to retake the land and rebuild the temple propelled them into centre stage of national politics.

On 6 December 1992, the Babri mosque was destroyed by thousands of right-wing volunteers who called themselves ‘Kar Sevaks’. The events triggered religious riots across the country in which about 2,000 people, most of them Muslim, were killed.

Subsequently, the site was heavily protected and a series of ongoing court cases by various groups were fought for ownership.

On 9 November 2019 in a unanimous verdict by a five-judge bench, the Supreme Court of India awarded the disputed site to the Hindus, rejecting the Muslims’ claim.

The court said “Archaeological evidence supports an underlying structure of Hindu origin. The Muslim parties failed to establish exclusive possession of the disputed land.”

The court directed the government to give an alternate piece of land to the Muslims, about 25km away in a village called Dhannipur.

Except for a broken razorwire fence, there are no signs of construction at this site.

Sitting on a charpoy on the vacant land, 72-year-old Mohammad Islam tells Sky News: “Look, it was wrong, but we have to live within the confines of the constitution. We have to adhere to it when a decision is right or when it’s not right. But we have to move on for development, let’s leave behind issues of temples and mosques now.”

Shahbaz Khan, a 33-year-old welder says: “Modi is the prime minister of the country, not just one community. We have no issues about the temple, we are happy. But there must be development for us too. The ruling BJP motto is ‘development for one and all’, but we see development is just for one.”

The Ayodhya issue has polarised the country for decades and the rift between the majority Hindus with their 182 million Muslim brethren has widened.

Hinduism is almost 4,000 years old and is the religion of almost 80% of the population. The first Islamic dynasty was established in the 13th century and Muslims constitute around 14% of the population.

Since Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has been in power since 2014 there has been a deepening of social divide and a display of muscular Hindu nationalism that has contributed to religious tensions.

Restrictions on the slaughter and sale of cows (revered by Hindus) have led to vigilantism and the killing of a number of Muslim traders transporting cattle.

Today’s ceremony will be seen as a political victory for Mr Modi and his party and will further consolidate his popularity with the majority.

It will also help him garner more votes for the upcoming general elections due in the summer, which he is widely believed to win.

One hopes that now with the construction of the Ram Temple the country’s deepening religious fissures and animosity between the two communities finally ends.

World

Tanks gather near Israeli-Lebanon border – as defence minister hold talks over ‘expansion’ of IDF activity

Published

14 hours ago

September 29, 2024

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Tanks gather near Israeli-Lebanon border - as defence minister hold talks over 'expansion' of IDF activity

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant has held talks over the possibility of expanding Israel’s military offensive – as tanks were pictured on the country’s border with Lebanon.

In a statement on Saturday, Mr Gallant’s office said he was conducting “an operational situation assessment” regarding what it called “the expansion of IDF (Israel Defence Forces) activities in the northern arena”.

Israeli tanks and troops were later pictured near the border, in what Sky News’ security and defence editor Deborah Haynes said is the “clearest sign yet” that Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah is “about to expand even further”.

The military said it was mobilising three more battalions of reserve soldiers to serve across the country. It had already sent two brigades to northern Israel to prepare for a possible ground invasion.

The deployment comes after Hezbollah confirmed that its leader of more than three decades Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday.

The militant group – which is aligned with Iran – vowed to continue its fight against Israel even as attacks continued to bombard areas around Lebanon’s capital.

At least six people were killed in the strikes – not including Nasrallah – and 91 were wounded, according to preliminary figures from Lebanon’s health ministry.

The United Nations high commissioner for refugees said that airstrikes led to the displacement of “well over 200,000” people inside Lebanon.

“More than 50,000 Lebanese people, and Syrians living in Lebanon, have crossed the border into Syria,” Filippo Grande wrote on X on Saturday.

‘Israel is on the move’

In his first public remarks since the killing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Nasrallah as a “terrorist” and said his killing would help bring displaced Israelis back to their homes in the north and would pressure Hamas to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

But with the threat of retaliation high, he said the coming days would bring “significant challenges” and warned Iran against trying to strike.

“There is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel will not reach, and today you already know how true this is,” Mr Netanyahu said.

“We have great achievements, but the work is not yet complete. In the coming days we will face significant challenges, and we will face them together,” he added.

“We are determined to continue to strike at our enemies, return our residents to their homes, and return all our abductees. We do not forget them for a moment.

“Israel is on the move.”

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the killing and announced five days of mourning. He said Lebanon will make Israel “regret their actions” and Nasrallah’s blood “will not go unavenged”.

In a letter to the UN Security Council, Iran’s UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani asked for an “emergency meeting” of the 15-member body, calling on it to “compel Israel” to cease all military action in both Gaza and Lebanon and “comply with relevant UNSC resolutions”.

Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Tehran, waving Hezbollah flags and chanting “death to Israel” and “death to Netanyahu the murderer”.

People also gathered in the Lebanese city of Sidon and in Amman, Jordan, to mourn Nasrallah. The 64-year-old had countless followers across the Arab and Islamic world, but was viewed as an extremist in much of the West.

World

Is wider war in the Middle East now inevitable?

Published

16 hours ago

September 29, 2024

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Is wider war in the Middle East now inevitable?

The pictures from Beirut are unnerving to say the least, the predictions for the immediate future even more so.

With the dust still settling from this game-changing assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, there are pressing questions crying out for answers.

Most of all, is the Middle East about to erupt into a regional conflict that threatens us all? That’s been the warning for almost a year, so is it about to happen?

Not if America and its allies can help it.

Follow latest: Iran warns Israel will ‘regret their actions’

Hezbollah is a designated terrorist organisation for the US, UK and other Western nations. It has killed hundreds of their citizens over the years.

There is no doubt President Joe Biden has felt what he called a “measure of justice” that Nasrallah has been killed.

But there is also a fear of what comes next. From the president down we are hearing urgent calls for de-escalation and a diplomatic solution. And the US has rushed military assets to ward off Hezbollah’s patrons in Iran doing their worst. But will that be enough?

US-led diplomacy to contain the Middle East crisis has failed.

A senior Middle Eastern diplomat told Sky News the assassination is a kick in the teeth for the US president.

“For all the bombs and billions he has given the Israelis,” he said, “the least they could have done for him in the last weeks of his presidency was a ceasefire in the region”.

With diplomacy stalled, what happens next depends on both Iran and Israel.

For its part, Iran may feel it has no alternative but to weigh in. It may fear the massive missile arsenal it supplied is so jeopardised it must intervene and save Hezbollah.

Iranians have long regarded Hezbollah as an insurance policy for the day Israel might attack Iran itself. If it sees its ally close to total collapse, might it then weigh in?

If it does, Israel’s allies led by America might feel compelled to come to its defence. The full scale war feared for almost a year could engulf the region.

But there are good reasons for Iran not to rush to action.

The Middle East seems a dangerous and unpredictable place but certain rules and assumptions apply, even in all its chaos.

For all their fanaticism, the ayatollahs of Tehran are pragmatic and seek the preservation of their grip on power above all. That has been a rule of the Middle Eastern jungle since they seized power 45 years ago.

Is it pragmatic or wise to up the ante and more directly support Hezbollah, when it is at its weakest? The Iranian regime is not that strong either, crippled economically by sanctions and mismanagement, and socially and politically by months of civil unrest, albeit now quashed.

There are limits too to what Iran could achieve with direct military intervention anyway in a war that is 2,000km from its borders. The Iranians may conclude this round in the war against Israel is over. They think in long time spans, after all. Time to regroup and move on to fight another day?

There will no doubt be days more of sound and fury, like we have seldom seen before. The mourning and funerals of Nasrallah and his lieutenants are likely to be the focus of intense anger and will raise tensions. But what happens afterwards?

That also comes down to Israel.

It may now feel it has the wind in its sails and seize the moment to invade Lebanon on the ground to push Hezbollah back from the border. That would be an extremely dangerous moment too, potentially drawing in supportive militia and Iranian forces based in Syria.

The hills of southern Lebanon are a treacherous country for a military like Israel’s that relies on infantry and tanks. They could be drawn into a lengthy and punishing campaign that could then destabilise the region.

Then there is Lebanon itself. An uneasy compromise between the warring factions of its civil war in the 1970s and 80s has held for decades but its always fragile status quo is now threatened. The chessboard of its multi-denominational politics has potentially been upended by the removal of its most powerful player.

If Lebanon descends back into factional fighting, regional stability will be undermined too.

The Middle East is in grave danger of further escalation. Western and regional diplomats are working round the clock to pull it back from the brink but recent efforts have all ended in failure and neither Israel nor Hezbollah seem to be listening.

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Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah killed after Beirut airstrikes, Israeli army says

Published

1 day ago

September 28, 2024

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Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah killed after Beirut airstrikes, Israeli army says

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been killed after airstrikes in Beirut, the Israeli army has said.

Recent weeks have seen Israel unleash a barrage of strikes against Lebanon after it turned its attention to the conflict at its northern border.

On Friday, Israel targeted the capital Beirut with a series of attacks claiming to have struck the headquarters of Hezbollah.

Israel-Hezbollah latest

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it carried out a “precise strike” on Hezbollah’s “central headquarters”, which it claimed was “embedded under residential buildings in the heart of the Dahieh in Beirut”.

The first wave of attacks shook windows across the city and sent thick clouds of smoke billowing into the air.

While Israel stressed it had been a “precise” strike, preliminary figures from Lebanon’s health ministry confirmed at least six other people were killed and 91 were wounded.

Israel said Nasrallah was the intended target and initially there were claims he had survived.

However, after several hours of confusion, his death was confirmed by Israel.

“Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world,” the IDF said.

Hours later, a defiant Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death but vowed their fight with Israel would continue after confirming they had fired upon sites in northern Israel.

“The leadership of Hezbollah pledges to the highest, holiest, and most precious martyr in our path full of sacrifices and martyrs to continue its jihad in confronting the enemy, supporting Gaza and Palestine, and defending Lebanon and its steadfast and honourable people,” they said.

Alongside claiming to have killed Nasrallah, the IDF said it had killed a number of other commanders, including Ali Karaki, the commander of the southern front.

The country’s military said the strike was carried out while Hezbollah leadership met at their underground headquarters in Dahieh.

In the aftermath of the most recent attacks, an Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment on whether US-made Mark 84 heavy bombs were used in the strike against Nasrallah.

“The strike was conducted while Hezbollah’s senior chain of command were operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel,” Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said in a media briefing.

He continued: “We hope this will change Hezbollah’s actions.”

He added the number of civilian casualties was unclear but blamed Hezbollah for positioning itself in residential areas.

“We’ve seen Hezbollah carry out attacks against us for a year. It’s safe to assume that they are going to continue carrying out their attacks against us or try to,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iran said it was in constant contact with Hezbollah and other allies to determine its “next step”, but Reuters reported the country’s supreme leader was transferred to a secure location in light of the latest attack.

Speaking after the attack, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslims “to stand by the people of Lebanon and the proud Hezbollah” and said: “The fate of this region will be determined by the forces of resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront,” state media reported.

Nasrallah’s death will be a blow to Hezbollah as it continues to reel from a campaign of escalating Israeli attacks.

Nasrallah is latest Hezbollah leader to fall

While Nasrallah’s death is certainly the most high-profile of recent attacks, it continues a trend of Israel targeting Hezbollah’s leadership structure.

Also on Saturday, in the early hours of the morning, the commander of the group’s missile unit and his deputy were killed in another Israeli attack in southern Lebanon.