consecration

In January, Indian Americans hosted a Times Square celebration for Modi’s consecration of a huge Hindu temple that had been built over the remains of an ancient mosque that was razed by mobs in 1992.

The consecration ceremony was both religious ritual and viral spectacle, with Mr. Modi cast in the role of ultimate victor, striding alone in the frame.

Every time guests veered into theological tangents, Suresh Chavhanke, the channel’s chairman, interjected to steer the show back to its focus: the opposition Congress party, which had to pay for its absence from the consecration, and India’s Muslim minority.

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the consecration of a vast new Hindu temple atop the ruins of a demolished Muslim mosque in the town of Ayodhya in northern India last week, it showed how far he will go to secure his reelection this year.

Ahead of the upcoming general election, Modi’s Hindu nationalist party is using the elaborate consecration ceremony to lobby the country’s Hindu majority.