Modi opens Ayodhya's sprawling Ram temple in pre-election spectacle

NEW DELHI/AYODHYA, India -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday led the inauguration of a sprawling Hindu temple built on a site that was once a flashpoint of Hindu-Muslim conflict, an event seen as a milestone on his road to reelection.

The Ram Mandir shrine in the northern city of Ayodhya is still under construction on land that was handed to Hindus by India's top court in November 2019, after decades of dispute. A 16th-century mosque, Babri Masjid, on the same site was demolished by a Hindu mob in 1992, triggering communal riots that left nearly 2,000 people dead.