Diplomatic sources on Thursday informed that a high level visit from India is expected to take place on April 20 to Abu Dhabi where a Shilanyas ceremony of a Hindu temple belonging to the Swamy Narayan Sect will take place.
This information has come in the backdrop of announcement by the BAPS Hindu Mandir Abu Dhabi that the ‘Shilanyas’ of the temple will take place on April 20. Work for the temple commenced in February 2018 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited UAE and addressed several community events.
The information of the high level visit for the Shilanyas ceremony is yet to be officially confirmed. The Hindu had reported earlier that the temple being built with public and private support under care of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) Hindu Mandir Abu Dhabi was a sign of UAE’s commitment to religious freedom. Once completed this will be the second Hindu temple in the country.
India-UAE cooperation has seen an upswing in the recent past with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed taking personal interest in building strategic partnership between two sides. The Crown Prince has most recently played a role in ensuring de-escalation of tension between India and Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack and Balakot strike.
UAE has maintained a positive attitude towards accommodating religious sentiments of the Indian workers stationed in the land since the 1950s when the number of Indians began increasing.
Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi had got entangled in a controversy in February 2018 when a few Indian TV channels aired footage of a local uttering Hindu religious slogans and branded the person as the Crown Prince Bin Zayed himself. This had drawn angry response from the UAE media.
