New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (November 25) marked the completion of the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya by hoisting a saffron flag, invoking Lord Ram and calling for the creation of a country that is inspired by Ram rajya by way of “awakening Ram inside us”.

Flanked by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat, Modi, the head of government of the sovereign secular republic of India, hoisted the dharma dhwaja, a triangular saffron flag that included the word ‘Om’ and an image of the kovidara tree, and said that it represented the rejuvenation of Indian civilisation while the ceremony marked the ‘healing of centuries-old wounds’.

However, Modi made no mention of the lives lost in the communal violence following the destruction of the Babri Mosque, the site of which the temple has been built on following the 2019 Supreme Court judgment that called the mosque's razing illegal but paved the way for the construction of the temple.

While opposition members questioned why Modi hoisted the flag on a temple, and the Samajwadi Party MP for the area alleged that he was not invited for the event as he was a Dalit, the prime minister called for building a Ram rajya by invoking Lord Ram in a manner that stands in contrast to the Ram rajya envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation.

“By Ramarajya’ I do not mean Hindu Raj,” said Gandhi in 1929. “I mean by ‘Ramarajya’ the Divine Raj, the Kingdom of God … For me Rama and Rahim are one and the same deity”.

“I acknowledge no other god but the one god of Truth and righteousness. Whether the Rama of my imagination ever lived or not on this earth, the ancient ideal of Ram Rajya is undoubtedly one of true democracy in which the meanest citizen could be sure of swift justice without an elaborate and costly procedure.”

Modi in his address following the flag hoisting, however, referred to only one community as he said that with the event “wounds of centuries are healing”.

“The wounds of centuries are healing, the pain of centuries is finding an end today, the resolution of centuries is achieving success today. Today marks the completion of a yajna whose fire burned for 500 years,” said Modi.

“A yajna that never wavered in its faith, never lost its belief even for a moment. Today, the infinite energy of the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Shri Ram, the divine glory of the Shri Ram family, has been established in the form of this dharma flag, in this most divine, most magnificent temple.”

Modi called for “awakening” Ram inside all and said there is no better day than today for “pran pratishtha [consecration] for the Ram inside us”.

“Ram is not a person, Ram is a value and a direction. If India has to become developed by 2047, if we have to create an equal society, we have to awaken Ram inside us. We have to do pran pratishtha for the Ram inside us. For this there is no better day than today,” he said.

“We have to build an India inspired by Ram rajya. And this is only possible when national interest comes before self-interest. When national interest is paramount.”

The Ayodhya Ram Temple has been built on the site where the Babri Mosque was destroyed by Hindutva groups, with over 2,000 people killed in the ensuing communal violence, over three decades ago.

In 2019, a five-judge constitution bench passed a unanimous judgment in favour of the temple side, where although it said that the demolition of the Babri Mosque was illegal, it cleared the way for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya and directed the Union government to allot a five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque.

Last year, just months ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Modi undertook 11-day-long rituals to prepare for the temple idol's consecration ceremony and said that god had “made him the representative of the people of India” to be present at the ceremony.

The flag hoisting on Tuesday marked the culmination of the Sangh parivar's long-drawn movement to build the Ram Temple, with the prime minister himself hoisting the saffron flag to mark the event.

While Modi made no mention of the communal violence that led to the loss of lives, he said that the flag would signify Ram Rajya’s “glory”.

“This dharma dhwaja is not just a flag. It is the flag of the renaissance of Indian civilisation. The saffron colour, suryavansh's insignia, the 'Om' word and the kovidara tree [personify] Ram Rajya's glory,” said Modi.

“This flag is a resolution, a success of a story of a struggle of hundreds of years. For the coming thousands of centuries, this dharma dhwaj flag will proclaim Lord Ram's values. This flag will call upon satyamev jayate, which implies that only truth triumphs. This flag will be the inspiration that our life may go but our promises won't. What is said must be done.

“This flag will be the hope that there should be no discrimination or pain, and there is peace and happiness in society. This flag will inspire us to build a society in which there should be no poverty and no one is helpless.”

Modi once again referred to British parliamentarian Thomas Babington Macaulay and said that he had laid the foundation for “uprooting India from its roots” and that the next decade will see India moving towards freeing itself from “mental slavery”.

“Macaulay laid the foundation for mental slavery in India. Ten years later, in 2035, that unholy event will mark 200 years. Just a few days ago, I had urged in a program that for the next ten years, we have to move ahead with the goal of freeing India from the mentality of slavery,” he said.

‘Country has no religion’

Modi's move to hoist the flag at the Ram Temple was met with criticism from opposition parties.

“This country has no religion as per the constitution, then why does the PM want to hoist this flag? Will he hoist a flag on a mosque, Gurudwara or a church? He wants to hoist the flag on the Ram Mandir for political benefit, so that he can benefit in the UP elections, instigating religious sentiments in the country," said Congress leader Rashid Alvi.

Awadhesh Prasad, the Samajwadi Party MP for Faizabad, which includes Ayodhya, on the other hand alleged that he had not been invited to the event because he is a Dalit.

“The reason I was not invited to the flag-raising ceremony in Ram lalla [boy Ram]'s court is that I belong to the Dalit community. So this is not Ram's honour, it is an introduction to someone else's narrow-minded thinking," he said.

“Ram belongs to everyone. My fight is not for any position or invitation, but for respect, equality and the honour of the Constitution.”

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