France, Jan. 21 -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday inaugurate a Hindu temple built on the site of a former historic mosque in the country's north. The big-budget event is intended to unite Hindu voters ahead of this year's elections, but excitement has been dampened by opposition boycotts and ongoing tensionswith India's Muslim population.

Rightwing factions have been seen handing out invitations to the 22 January consecration of the 50-metreRam Temple in Ayodhya, a city in Hindi-speaking Uttar Pradesh state.

In December 1992,radical Hindus tore down a mosque that has stood on the site for 400 years in an act that caused violent riots that killed 2,000 people across India - most of them Muslim.

More than 30 years lat...