Modi vows to build Hindu temple at Babri mosque site

NEW DELHI: The construction of a grand Hindu temple at holy site bitterly contested with Muslims moved a step closer on Wednesday when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said a trust had been finalised to oversee the project.

The razing of a mosque at Ayodhya by a huge crowd of Hindu zealots almost 30 years ago unleashed some of the country´s worst sectarian violence since independence, with more than 2000 people killed.

After a decades-long legal battle, India´s highest court ruled in November that the land in northern India should be managed by a trust to oversee the construction of a temple. Modi announced in parliament, to applause and chants of "Hail Lord Ram" from party supporters, that the trust has now been set up. "Let us all support the construction of a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya," Modi said, referring to the deity it will be named after.

The temple construction had been a campaign pledge of Modi´s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) even before the mosque´s demolition in 1992. In 2002, when Modi was chief minister of Gujarat state, 59 Hindu activists died in a blaze on a train from Ayodhya, leading to riots that saw upwards of 1000 people perish, mostly Muslims.

For critics, the temple construction forms part of Modi´s alleged master plan to remould the country as a Hindu nation, something he denies.

The temple will be built on 67 acres (27 hectares), while five acres on the outskirts of Ayodhya will be handed over to a Muslim body for the construction of a mosque, the Press Trust of India reported.

India´s powerful Home Minister Amit Shah welcomed Modi´s announcement, saying a centuries-old wait for the temple was over, and people would be finally able to worship at Ram´s birthplace.