India’s Ayodhya Brijesh Pathak watched as 500,000 people flocked to the new temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Ram.
In the midst of a national frenzy that focused attention on the temple town of Ayodhya in the northern province of Uttar Pradesh, where Hindu scriptures claim Ram was born, it was the day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the shrine.
The purpose of the devotees’ visit was to see the enormous building, which was erected on the site of a mosque from the 16th century that was destroyed by a right-wing mob in 1992, housing Ram’s idol.
However, Pathak, a 32-year-old guesthouse manager, claimed that as the throng grew, a situation akin to a stampede developed outside the temple grounds. Police barricades were erected, buses and rickshaws were forced off the road, and additional security guards were dispatched to the small town, which was ill-equipped to accommodate the large influx of tourists.
It was a deluge of humanity. All you could see were heads forever, Pathak said to Al Jazeera.
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Just one day prior, the city was the most sought-after travel destination in India when Modi arrived to officially open the contentious temple, accompanied by a plethora of Hindu saints, movie stars, and business magnates.
However, when the PM and the celebrities went, Ayodhya had to cope with a new reality: the city is now projected to welcome millions of tourists and pilgrims annually, but local entrepreneurs and traders complained it is ill-prepared to handle such volumes of visitors.
