CNN
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India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated Abu Dhabi’s first Hindu temple, boosting his credentials as a worldwide statesman months earlier than he heads to the polls in a nationwide election the place he’s in search of a uncommon third time period in energy.

The BAPS Hindu Mandir, constructed on a sprawling 27-acre website within the Abu Dhabi desert, is the town’s first conventional Hindu stone mandir, its pink sandstone columns topped by seven spires representing the variety of Sheikhs that rule every of the Emirates.

Modi was greeted with a hug by the nation’s President, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and offered with the Guard of Honor, exhibiting how shut the 2 nations have come of their strategic and financial relations.

But whereas Islam is the official faith of the UAE, Modi’s journey comes as Muslims in India say they feel marginalized and threatened as Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hindu nationalist insurance policies achieve momentum on this planet’s largest democracy.

Yet, analysts anticipate this is not going to current a difficulty for Modi throughout his go to, given India’s rising prominence, its rising economic system and strategic place on the worldwide stage. And again house, analysts say Modi’s main function within the temple’s inauguration might give his get together a lift within the buildup to the election in just a few months’ time.

In his decade of energy, Modi has created a picture of himself as “the protector of Hinduism,” mentioned New Delhi based mostly political analyst Asim Ali, and is now taking that message past India’s borders.

“He’s hoisting the flag of Hinduism across the world. It’s like the religion and pride of India going overseas,” Ali mentioned.

“He’s sending a message to the world: India is the protector of the Hindu religion.”

‘Important cultural and political project’

The opening of the Abu Dhabi Temple comes only a few weeks after Modi inaugurated the controversial Ram Mandir, a temple constructed on the foundations of a centuries-old mosque that was torn down by hardline Hindu crowds within the early Nineties in northern India.

That ceremony was seen as a seismic shift away from fashionable India’s secular founding rules and was hailed by Hindu nationalists as a crowning second of their decades-long marketing campaign to reshape the nation.

The temple opening in Abu Dhabi “must be seen as a political operation for Modi vis-à-vis constituencies abroad and at home,” mentioned Nicolas Blarel, Associate Professor of International Relations on the Institute of Political Science, Leiden University in The Netherlands.

The temple has a storied historical past as its UAE-based devotees have lengthy advocated for its development, mentioned Blarel, who focuses on overseas coverage in South Asia and the Middle East.

The nation of 9 million is house to about 3.5 million Indian nationals alone, making it the biggest inhabitants of Indian residents on this planet.

In 2015, the UAE authorities allotted land for the event of the temple, in a serious win for the diaspora.

“This then became a joint venture as both the Indian and UAE governments entrusted the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha the responsibility to build and administer the mandir,” Blarel mentioned.

“Nine years later, this important cultural and political project has been materialized and framed by the BJP and Modi as further evidence of the global reach of India’s religious and cultural heritage, but also of cooperation with its diaspora.”

Growing enterprise and financial ties

This is the Indian Prime Minister’s seventh journey to the Islamic nation, and the third within the final eight months, indicating its significance to Modi within the lead as much as the election.

“India-UAE relations have grown in economic terms, but perhaps more significantly in strategic and security terms,” mentioned Kadira Pethiyagoda, a former diplomat and Brookings Fellow.

“This is the product of India seeking to expand its strategic reach into the Middle East and secure its energy sources,” added Pethiyagoda, writer of “Indian Foreign Policy and Cultural Values.”

In a bid to spice up the commercial sector and carry exports, the Indian authorities has sought to signal free commerce offers, a transfer that’s been warmly obtained world wide.

Last September, US President Joe Biden, Modi and the leaders of the UAE and Saudi Arabia introduced the launch of a brand new commerce route connecting India to the Middle East and Europe by way of railways and ports.

India’s billionaires, together with Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, have additionally invested huge cash within the nation. Last August, the UAE was amongst six international locations invited to affix the BRICS bloc, which India is part of.

“The UAE, like the other Gulf states, has been trying in recent years to diversify its strategic and security partnerships with Great Powers,” mentioned Pethiyagoda. “This means moving away from sole reliance on the US toward partnerships with India, China and Russia.”

Given these causes, analysts say there’s little probability UAE will convey up the criticism of Modi’s authorities over its therapy of Muslims.

“If they do bring it up, it will be in private,” Pethiyagoda mentioned. “Gulf governments have always taken a practical approach of non-interference in domestic affairs of major powers.”

And it’s additionally unclear how a lot further assist the UAE temple will give a major minister already common with religious Hindu followers.

The BAPS temple “will not win him much more adulation amongst BJP supporting Hindus than the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya has already garnered,” Pethiyagoda mentioned.

“It may however win votes in the South where much of India’s Gulf workforce hails from and sends their remittances to, and where the BJP is weaker.”

He added: “It could also, if promoted properly, help to improve his reputation amongst some Muslim voters to whom it could be portrayed as Hindu-Muslim friendship.”