India PM Modi marks 'end of constitutional democratic republic & start of Hindu majoritarian state'

Tens of thousands of Hindus braved biting cold on Tuesday to pray at a new temple to Lord Ram in India's northern city of Ayodhya, a day after its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a site believed to be the god-king's birthplace. Hindu groups, Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliates have portrayed the opening as part of a Hindu renaissance after past centuries of subjugation by Muslim invaders and colonial powers. He was among more than 50,000 devotees who lined up before dawn on Tuesday to enter the temple, among some 200,000 who arrived in the city after the consecration, said a government official, Murli Dhar Singh. The site was bitterly contested for decades by Hindus and minority Muslims, sparking nationwide riots in 1992 that killed 2,000 people, mainly Muslims, police say, after a Hindu mob destroyed the 16th-century mosque there. As Hindu Ram temple precipitously opens to the public amid pomp and circumstance, FRANCE 24's Delano D'Souza is joined by Dr Subir Sinha, Author, Director of the SOAS South Asia Institute and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Development Studies at SOAS London.