NEW DELHI: As Hindu devotees prepare to inaugurate a grand temple to one of their holiest deities, India’s minority Muslims plan to begin building a new mosque in the same city later this year, hoping to make a fresh start after a bloody, decades-long dispute.

Haji Arfat Shaikh, the head of the development committee of the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) that is overseeing the mosque project, said this week that construction would begin in May, after the holy month of Ramazan, and the mosque would take three to four years to build.

Hindu zealots razed the 16th century Babri mosque in the northern Indian city of Ayodhya in 1992, saying that it was built over an ancient temple on the site that marked the birthplace of Hindu god-king Ram.

The dispute had scarred relations between the communities for decades and the destruction of the mosque sparked nationwide riots that killed 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.

India’s top court said in 2019 that the razing of the mosque was unlawful, but ruled that evidence showed there was a non-Islamic structure beneath it. It ordered that the site be given to Hindu groups to build a temple and Muslim community leaders be given land elsewhere in the city for constructing a mosque.

While construction of the $180 million temple began within months and the first phase is set to open on Monday, Muslim groups have struggled to raise funds and begin work at a desolate site about 25km away.

“We hadn’t approached anyone ... there was no public movement for it (funds),” said Zufar Ahmad Faruqi, the president of the IICF.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2024