On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated an unfinished Ram temple erected in the city of Ayodhya. This event has sparked a nationwide fervour surrounding the consecration, effectively bringing the country to a virtual standstill, with a population of 1.4 billion people and a nearly $4 trillion economy.

The stock market wa closed, government offices were operating for only half the day, and movie halls were featuring live screenings of the religious ceremony. Critics of Modi argue that he has seized control of the event ahead of the upcoming national elections expected to start in March.

Strikingly absent from news channels and popular discourse is any acknowledgment that the temple is being constructed at the exact location where the 16th-century Babri Masjid was demolished by a Hindu nationalist mob on a winter morning in December 1992.

Muslims fear that after Ayodhya, there might be a cascading effect on other disputed places like Mathura and Kashi. Mathura and Varanasi, also known as Kashi and Modi’s parliamentary constituency, are home to historic mosques that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Hindu majoritarian allies claim were constructed on the sites of demolished temples.

For many of India’s 200 million Muslims, the grandeur and official celebration surrounding the inauguration of the temple marked another painful realization that, particularly since Modi assumed office in 2014, the democracy they once felt a part of seems indifferent to their concerns.

The escalating religious polarization in the country not only jeopardizes their safety and security but also diminishes their political influence in the upcoming national elections. Muslims make up more than 20% of the population in 101 of India’s 543 directly elected parliamentary constituencies. Traditionally, Indian secularism rested on Hindus and Muslims, the two largest communities, voting primarily on economic or non-religious issues.

While Indian Muslims do not constitute a uniform voting bloc, they have historically possessed a limited yet distinct ability to impact electoral outcomes throughout independent India’s 77-year journey, particularly in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh (home to Ayodhya, Varanasi, Mathura, and Lucknow) and Bihar, as well as the eastern states of West Bengal and Assam, housing some of India’s largest Muslim populations. With heightened religious sentiments and a potential consolidation of the majority Hindu vote behind parties like the BJP, as observed in recent elections, this political equation is now in jeopardy.

At the heart of Modi’s religious narrative is the Ram temple, revealed while still under construction, despite objections from some of Hinduism’s most prominent seers who accuse the prime minister of strategically timing its consecration for maximum electoral advantage.

Hindus and Muslims have coexisted for centuries in India, with mosques and temples holding cultural and historical significance for all Indians.

Since January 12, Prime Minister Modi has observed a fast and visited various temples in saffron robes, blurring the lines between his role as prime minister and a religious figure. On Monday, he participated in a 30-minute ceremony at the temple, an event not attended by the country’s largest opposition party, the Congress.

The estimated cost of building the temple is 11.8 billion Indian rupees ($142 million), with some considering it to be the new Vatican for Hindus. However, this construction is part of a broader development plan for Ayodhya, where Modi inaugurated a new airport and railway station in December, and the city is expanding into the neighbouring city of Faizabad, named after a Muslim courtier.

Adjacent to Ayodhya is Dhannipur village, where the Supreme Court directed the government to allocate land to the Muslim community to construct a mosque, following a 2019 judgment. The coordinators of the mosque project acknowledge the lack of funds but expresses the intention to eventually collect them, planning to build a hospital and mosque in Dhannipur.

While many Muslims feel discouraged about the rapid construction of the Ram temple, they hope that India’s judiciary will prevent a similar situation in Mathura and Varanasi. Last week, the Supreme Court temporarily halted a High Court judgment ordering a study of the Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura to determine if it was built over the remains of a temple.