Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hoisted a saffron flag at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, marking the completion of its construction.

“Today, the entire India and the whole world are imbued with Ram,” The Indian Express quoted Modi as saying at the ceremony. “…Centuries-old wounds are being healed, centuries of torture are finding respite, and a centuries-old resolve is achieving fulfillment today.”

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath were also present at the ceremony, The Hindu reported. The RSS is the parent organisation of the ruling BJP.

The Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was demolished on December 6, 1992, by Hindu extremists who claimed that an ancient Ram temple stood on the site.

In 2019, a Supreme Court bench directed that the plot be allotted to a trust that would oversee the construction of a Ram temple, while a separate five-acre plot be allotted in Ayodhya to Muslims for constructing a mosque.

Over four years later, the Ram temple was inaugurated in Ayodhya in a ceremony led by Modi on January 22, 2024.

At the ceremony marking its completion on Tuesday, Modi said that flag being hoisted would give inspiration that one can lose their life but not promises. He claimed that while the country had received freedom, it could not get over the mindset of slavery.

This mindset was what termed the Hindu deity Ram as “imaginary”, the prime minister added.

“The mindset of slavery said that our Constitution is inspired from outside but India is the founder of democracy,” The Indian Express quoted him as saying. “Democracy is in our DNA.”

He added that an India inspired by a “Ram Rajya”, or the utopian reign of Ram, must be created.

Commenting on the ceremony, Congress leader Rashid Alvi noted that India had no religion as per the Constitution, ANI reported. “...then why does the PM want to hoist this flag?” Alvi asked. “Will he hoist a flag on a mosque, Gurudwara or a church?”

The Congress leader said that Modi wanted to hoist the flag on the Ram temple so that he can benefit from it politically in the Uttar Pradesh elections and also instigate religious sentiments in the country.

“He should learn secularism [former Prime Minister] Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru…,” Alvi added.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Waris Pathan said that December 6, 1992, was a “black day” for the country and for democracy as the Babri Masjid was demolished “through a conspiracy”, ANI reported.

“We believe that the mosque will remain where it was...” Pathan said. “He [Modi] went there and hoisted the flag...You are not the prime minister of a particular community, you are the prime minister of the entire country...”