Religious spectacle to mark opening of Ram temple by Indian PM Modi

AYODHYA, India - A grand temple to Hindu god Lord Ram opens on Jan 22 on a site in India that millions believe is his birthplace, in a religious spectacle led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi months before he seeks a rare third term in office.

The construction of the temple is a 35-year-old, central promise of Mr Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a contentious political issue that helped catapult the party to prominence and power.

Hindu groups are portraying the inauguration ceremony in the northern city of Ayodhya as the peak of Hindu awakening after centuries of subjugation by Muslim and colonial powers.

It is also being seen as the virtual launch of the deeply religious strongman Modi's re-election campaign for general elections due by May.

The temple site was bitterly contested for decades with both Hindus and Muslims laying claim to it and was a flashpoint for violence after a Hindu mob in 1992 destroyed a 16th century mosque which stood there.

India's majority Hindus say the site is the birthplace of Lord Ram, and was holy to them long before Muslim Mughals razed a temple at the spot and built the Babri Masjid or mosque there in 1528.

In 2019, the Supreme Court handed over the land to Hindus and ordered allotment of a separate plot to Muslims.

On Jan 22, Mr Modi will take part in the culmination of rituals to inaugurate the temple, for which thousands of members of BJP and its affiliates, religious leaders and devotees from across the country are expected to gather in Ayodhya.

Some of India's top business leaders, movie actors and sportspersons have also been invited for the consecration, organisers said.

Religious outpouring, political controversy

"The Lord has made me an instrument to