How Narendra Modi wants to remake Hinduism's holiest city - and India

Tear it down to build it up: Narendra Modi in Varanassi. Photo: Reuters

Joanna Slater

As he ran for reelection, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to Varanassi - a city of narrow lanes and innumerable temples on a curve in the Ganges River - and said he was doing God's work.

Modi inaugurated a project in March that will radically transform the heart of Varanasi, Hinduism's holiest city, by carving a wide path from its most important temple down to the river.