A long-standing flashpoint in India's sectarian politics is set to culminate tomorrow as the consecration of the Ram Mandir, a Hindu temple, looms large on January 22, 2024. This sacred event is unfolding on a contested holy site in Ayodhya, once home to the Babri Mosque. The special ceremony, marking a decades-long effort in construction, carries profound significance for Hindus, as it signifies the birthplace of Lord Ram, a revered deity in their faith.

Yet, this very site holds poignant memories for Muslims, who cherished the 16th-century Babri Mosque as a testament to their Indian Muslim faith until it was tragically demolished by a Hindu nationalist mob in 1992. The aftermath unleashed sectarian riots, claiming thousands of lives and leaving scars that linger to this day.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the helm of a Hindu-nationalist government, will play a pivotal role in the upcoming ceremony. Observers anticipate this moment to unofficially kickstart his bid for a third consecutive term in the upcoming spring elections. The opposition Congress Party, however, has chosen to abstain from the ceremony, dismissing it as nothing more than a "political project" cynically timed for electoral advantage.

A Joyous Occasion or a Blow to Secular Ethos?

While the Indian government and many Hindus view the January 22, 2024 consecration as a joyous occasion of national and religious importance, concerns arise among observers. There is a palpable fear that this event could serve as another unsettling blow to India's secular ethos. Michael Kugelman, Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, underscores the complexities, noting that the Ram Mandir issue glosses over traumatic and heavily contested events in India's history.

The zenith of anticipation arrived on November 9, 2019, when the Supreme Court, the paramount judicial institution of India, delivered its definitive verdict. Controversy stirred as the judgment acknowledged the illicit acts of planting idols within the mosque and toppling its walls but paradoxically ruled in favor of Hindu groups, granting them the right to construct a temple at the contentious site.

Amidst this legal maelstrom, experts stepped forward, challenging the very foundations upon which the temple's legitimacy rested. These scholars, detached from the political tumult, argued vehemently that conclusive archaeological evidence supporting the existence of a temple beneath the mosque was elusive. Robert Bevan, renowned for his work on the "politicization of archaeology" in The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War (2006), emphasized the global resonance of the Ayodhya case, branding it as a poignant example of how archaeology becomes entangled in nationalistic agendas.

Bulldozers at the Gates of History in Sunehri Bagh and Beyond

Amidst conflicting reports of the temple's imminent inauguration on January 22, a palpable reality emerges—the construction remains incomplete, yet it's paraded as a triumph for the BJP, strategically unveiled just before the impending general elections.

In the aftermath of Ayodhya, a ripple effect resonates across the nation, empowering forces to sow seeds of discord elsewhere. The echoes of communal tension reverberate through heritage sites, with mosques, in particular, facing the brunt of Hindu nationalist threats. A haunting chronicle unfolds as attempts to bury a sacred Nandi statue near the Gyanvapi mosque and the surreptitious placement of a Hindu goddess Sarasvati idol within the Kamal Maula mosque in Madhya Pradesh come to light.

Legal skirmishes paint a tumultuous canvas—cases filed in 2022 and beyond allege the illegality of centuries-old mosques, each claiming a historical Hindu connection. In this relentless pursuit, a 300-year-old mosque crumbles in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, and the Shahi mosque in Prayagraj succumbs to bulldozers under the guise of road-widening.

Yet, the crescendo of cultural erasure reaches a haunting climax on December 24, 2023, as the New Delhi Municipal Corporation seeks approval to demolish the Sunehri Bagh mosque—a small Mughal-era gem at the heart of central Delhi. The rationale? "To ensure sustainable mobility."

As the bulldozers threaten the Sunehri Bagh mosque, its Grade III heritage status echoes the resonant voices of history. Associated with freedom fighter Maulana Hasrat Mohani, a key architect of the Indian constitution, the mosque stands as a living testament to the struggles and sacrifices of the past.

Weaving the Ram Mandir Movement into a Transformative Legacy

For Modi, the construction of the Ram Temple transcends mere fulfillment of a longstanding Hindu nationalist commitment; it signifies the crystallization of his legacy as one of India's most transformative leaders. Beyond the veneer of honoring a pledge, rebuilding the temple, greenlit by the Supreme Court in 2019, emerges as a central project of Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, the implications stretch beyond the architectural renaissance—it is the cornerstone of Modi's ambitious endeavor to reshape India from a secular democracy into an unequivocally Hindu nation.

Rana Ayyub, a prominent journalist known for her adversarial stance against Modi's BJP, sees the Ram Mandir movement as a persistent motif in Modi's career. The narrative weaves back to 1990 when Modi, then a local BJP leader in Gujarat, orchestrated a religious rally to galvanize support for the construction of a temple dedicated to Lord Ram on the Babri Mosque site. In a prescient pledge in January 1992, Modi vowed to refrain from returning to Ayodhya until a temple honoring Lord Ram stood in its full glory. Nearly three decades later, Modi presided over the temple's groundbreaking, drawing a parallel between the event and "the day India gained independence."

Ayyub observes, "His entire career has been based on Ayodhya because he realized early on that the only way to become a favorite of the masses is to endear them through the Ram Temple movement." This movement, she contends, epitomizes Modi's zenith as a Hindu nationalist leader.

Connecting the Dots Between Ram Temple, CAA, and Kashmir

The consecration of the temple aligns with a series of strategic political maneuvers employed by Modi to advance his government's Hindu nationalist agenda. The contentious Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019, extending Indian citizenship selectively to religious minorities from neighboring countries but excluding Muslims, challenges the constitutionally mandated secularism of India. Additionally, the abrogation of the special autonomous status of India-administered Kashmir, its sole Muslim-majority state, amplifies the resonance of Modi's Hindu-centric policies.

Michael Kugelman succinctly ties these threads together, stating, "What unites these three things is that they work against Indian Muslims and Muslims more broadly," thereby fortifying the status and interests of Indian Hindus.