Three decades after Hindu zealots tore down a mosque at Ayodhya, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi will attend the consecration of a massive Hindu temple on the same site, setting the tone for an election campaign in which religious nationalism will play an influential role.
About 4,500 workers have been toiling day and night for months to complete the first stage of the three-storey Ram Mandir shrine, dedicated to one of Hinduism’s most revered deities Lord Ram, in time for a visit by the prime minister on January 22.
Modi, who has ruled India since 2014, is hoping to return for a third term with a big enough majority to sideline his political opposition and continue his Bharatiya Janata party’s project of restoring the country’s majority religion to a central place in public life.