BS Reads: In plan to develop new Ayodhya, mosque conspicuous by its absence

The Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh has set the ball rolling to transform Ayodhya into a ‘world class spiritual mega city’ and the ‘biggest divine tourism hub of Asia.’ But this grand initiative makes no mention of a new mosque to be built over five acres of land allocated by the state government in Dhannipur village on the outskirts of Ayodhya.

A close look at the documents being prepared to showcase Ayodhya as a world-class spiritual mega city reveals that the entire plan is centred around the new Ram temple expected to be built on about 108 acres of land by 2023 at the site of the 16th century mosque demolished by Hindutva mobs in 1992. India’s Supreme Court had allowed the construction of the Ram temple at the same place where the mosque was pulled down. As a compensation, the apex court had sanctioned five acres for a new mosque and a site in Dhannipur village, just 25 kilometres away from the proposed Ram Mandir, was allocated by the state government. 

The request for proposal to appoint a consultant for preparing a plan to re-develop Ayodhya doesn’t have any reference to the new mosque, its development or its integration into the ‘new smart city’ that the Adityanath administration wants to turn the sleepy town into. The request for proposal to appoint a consultant was issued by the state government on December 26, 2020 and one is likely to be appointed by February 2021 when the bidding process is completed. The 17-week contract envisages preparing a detailed plan for developing a greenfield township spread over 1200 acres, infrastructure and tourism plan for Ayodhya among other things.

In contrast to the absence of the proposed mosque at Dhannipur in the vision of a new Ayodhya, the document explicitly states that “special attention” would be given to the “Sri Ram temple area of 108 acres.” The document specifically mentions re-development of the core city area and developing modern infrastructure “in the temple influence zone surrounding the Ram Janma Bhoomi.” The consultant will be required to follow Vedic principles of urban planning while devising the master plan for Ayodhya’s re-development. Eight such Vedic principles have been illustrated in the government’s request for proposal. Most of these ancient principles revolve building a town around a temple.

While the re-development plan revolves around the new Ram temple no Muslim representative, the state’s Sunni Waqf Board or anyone from the community has been counted as a key stakeholder with whom consultations are to be held during the entire process. 15 per cent of Ayodhya district’s population is Muslim. The “temple trust, religious and spiritual entities including Math (Akharas community)” have been listed as potential stakeholders with whom consultations have to be held while preparing the plan.

The new Ram temple and development of areas in its close proximity are expected to be built at a cost of Rs 1,300 crore. The Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, the trust established by the Modi government to oversee the temple’s construction on February 5, 2020 has been soliciting donations for a while now. Reports suggest it has collected crores of rupees in donations till date. 

The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board had formed its own trust called the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) to oversee the construction of a new mosque at the five-acre site at Dhannipur allocated by the Adityanath administration. The design for a mosque and a hospital at Dhannipur was released by IICF a week before the request for proposal to appoint a consultant for planning the redevelopment of Ayodhya was issued by the state government. There are hundreds of other mosques in the main city of Ayodhya and its vicinity. The IICF too has been calling for donations for building the mosque and the hospital.

In many ways, the Ayodhya plan mirrors the Jerusalem model in Israel. While the Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA) practically looks over development and restoration of much of the old city’s heritage including walls like Herod’s, Zion and Damascus gates among others, it doesn’t look after the Al-Aqsa mosque and Qubbat Al-Sakhrah. These are controlled and operated by a waqf board unconnected to the Israeli government. Excavations and development work undertaken by JDA close to the Al-Aqsa mosque have often caused outrage in the Islamic world.

Nations in India's neighbourhood are also making efforts to portray themselves as protectors of minority religious places despite being less culturally pluralistic than India. The Imran Khan government in Pakistan promised that it would reclaim over 400 temples that had been illegally occupied since partition and hand them back to Hindus. In July 2019, the Shwala Teja Singh temple in Sialkot was restored and handed back to Hindus. In February 2020, another temple located in Zhob in Balochistan was handed back to the community. Hindus comprise two per cent of Pakistan’s population while Muslims comprise 14 per cent of India’s population. But even as Pakistan’s law enforcement and judiciary have acted against those damaging Hindu temples, disturbing incidents have been reported of late. In December 2020, a mob set on fire a Hindu shrine in Khyber Pakhtunwala. 14 people with allegiance to a local cleric have been picked up by the local police for orchestrating the attack. In 2019, Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation with a sizeable Hindu population facilitated the conduct of a ritualistic purification at the Pramban temple – reportedly the first time since the temple was constructed in 850 AD by the Sanjaya dynasty. This symbolically marked the temple’s transition from a purely tourist monument to a place of worship.

The Adityanath government has launched an ambitious plan to redevelop Ayodhya anticipating massive tourist influx from 2023 when the new Ram temple’s construction would be completed. In its 2020-21 budget, the state had allocated Rs 500 crore for building a new airport at Ayodhya in addition to another Rs 95 crore for various development works in the city. The Ayodhya Development Authority is in the process of preparing a detailed masterplan for developing 133 square kilometers of land around Ayodhya, a fourth of which consists of the core city.

Vishal Singh, the vice-chairman of Ayodhya Development Authority said, “The vision is to build the new city and re-develop infrastructure in a way that Ayodhya was in ancient times in the Kosala kingdom. So the development will be around the parikramas (religious perambulations) around Ayodhya. We already have the detailed project reports in place. Work has already begun. Once the consultant submits the report, it will gather pace. We are confident of executing the plan before 2023.”