MOSCOW — City leaders in Moscow will allot land for the construction of a Hare Krishna temple, ending a long-standing controversy over whether Hindus should have a place of worship in the Russian capital.
Sheila Dixit, chief minister of Delhi state — which includes the Indian capital, New Delhi — announced the move during a recent visit to Moscow, during which she attended a three-day cultural festival held under a “sister city” accord between the two capitals.
Dixit said Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov had given her an assurance about the allotment of land for the temple, according to a report in the leading Indian newspaper The Hindu and a joint statement issued after the visit.
In January 2004, the mayor of Moscow signed a decree allocating land for the building of a new temple in place of an older Hindu temple that had been demolished under a city development plan.
The offer was later withdrawn, however, following mass protests that were reportedly organized by the Russian Orthodox Church against the building of a Hindu temple.
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