⁍ Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay a foundation stone for a Hindu temple in Ayodhya.

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⁍ A 16th century mosque was demolished by supporters of his Hindu nationalist party in 1992.

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⁍ The events in Ayodhya sparked communal riots in several parts of India.

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⁍ The rights to the site were unresolved until last year, when the Supreme Court decided in favour of building a Hindu temple there.

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– India’s prime minister will lay the foundation stone Friday for a Hindu temple on the site of a 16th-century mosque that was demolished in 1992, sparking riots that left about 2,000 people dead, Reuters reports. According to the Hindu, the town of Ayodhya is where the Hindu god Ram was believed to have been born. Hindus believe the mosque was built on the spot where Ram was born. The site of the mosque was seized in 1949 by Hindu activists who placed idols of Ram inside. Court orders stopped people from removing the idols, and the mosque’s use as a mosque was effectively ceased. Hindu and Muslim groups filed separate claims over the site and the structure. In 1989, a high court ordered the maintenance of the status quo. In 1990, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party launched a nationwide campaign to build a temple in Ayodhya with its then president Lal Krishna Advani on a cross-country journey on a truck designed like a chariot. It whipped up Hindu fervour across the country, deepened divisions with Muslims, but also catapulted the BJP into national prominence. Last year, Modi was re-elected with the biggest parliamentary majority in three decades. Temples and other buildings on the bank of the Sarayu river are seen illuminated ahead of the foundation-laying ceremony for a Hindu temple in Ayodhya, India, August 4, 2019. The events in Ayodhya sparked communal riots in several parts of India. About 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.