Modi mở ra chiến thắng cho những người theo chủ nghĩa dân tộc theo đạo Hindu

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They fanned out (đi khắp) across the vast country, knocking on doors in the name of a cause that would redefine (định nghĩa lại) India.

These foot soldiers and organizers (người tổ chức), including a young Narendra Modi, collected millions of dollars to be socked away (để dành) for a long fight to build a grand Hindu temple in Ayodhya, in northern India. Across 200,000 villages, ceremonies (nghi lễ) were arranged (tổ chức) to bless (ban phước) individual bricks (từng viên gạch) that would be sent to that sacred (linh thiêng) city, believed by Hindus (người theo đạo Hindu) to be the birthplace of the deity (vị thần) Ram.

The bricks, the campaign’s leaders (người lãnh đạo chiến dịch) declared (tuyên bố), would not just be used for the temple’s construction on land occupied (chiếm đất) for centuries by a mosque (nhà thờ Hồi giáo). They would be the foundation for a Hindu rashtra, or Hindu nation, that would correct what right-wing Hindus saw as the injustice of India’s birth as a secular republic (nước cộng hòa thế tục).

Nearly four decades later, the cornerstone (nền tảng) of that sweeping vision (tầm nhìn bao quát) has been laid (đặt).

Mr. Modi, now the country’s prime minister (thủ tướng), inaugurated (khánh thành) the Ram temple in Ayodhya on Monday — the crowning achievement (thành tựu đỉnh cao) of a national movement (phong trào) aimed at establishing (thiết lập) Hindu supremacy (quyền lực tối cao) in India by rallying (tập hợp) the country’s Hindu majority across castes (tầng lớp đặc quyền, đẳng cấp) and tribes (bộ lạc).

“Today, our Ram has come. After centuries of patience and sacrifice (hy sinh), our Lord Ram has come,” Mr. Modi said during the ceremony. “It is the beginning of a new era.”

The moment is both one of triumph for Hindu nationalists and one of jubilation (sự hân hoan) for many others who care little for politics. Ram has a wide following in India; excitement around the temple’s consecration (thánh hiến) had been building for weeks, with saffron-colored (màu nghệ tây) pennants (cờ hiệu) strung across (treo khắp) a million streets and markets, and posters of Ram advertising the event everywhere.

source: nytimes,