Construction of a pillar that will be part of a gate on the path leading to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, India.
Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/BloombergA Hindu Temple Embodies the Rise of Modi and India's Deep Divisions
Ahead of national elections, the opening of a controversial temple illustrates a religious fault line in India — and how high Modi’s party has climbed.
The streets leading to India’s most contested religious site are going full throttle. Hindu priests mix with barefooted pilgrims chanting the names of deities. Armed officials patrol the city of Ayodhya from watchtowers and checkpoints.
On a sprawling construction site, bulldozers tear into the earth and men use drills to chisel slabs of stone. They’ve worked round-the-clock to prepare for Monday’s consecration of a controversial temple on Hindu holy land where an ancient mosque once stood, an occasion Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week called the fulfillment of “dreams that many generations have cherished for years.”