UTTAR PRADESH : THE ENGRESS OF THE ‘RAM VOTES’ FROM BJP TO OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES.
Ayodhya – The seat of Saffron politics in India has been the forefront of right wing politics in North India for a very long time now. History has it that LK Advani -the flag bearer of the BJP had a massive show of strength of what it popularly culminated into a Rath Yatra in the fall of 1990. Nationalism in what it translated into the protection and plight of the Hindus of India saw a renaissance in this Yatra. That, the disputed site of Babri Majid was seen as an impediment towards realisation of the essence of Lord Ram whose birth place didn’t get the pompous revitalisation that it should have received over the centuries, united the Hindus of North India across caste lines. It was a tensed environment that served as a perfect recipe for communal perversion to state the least. On the 6th of December, 1992, India saw a new script being written in the form of the demolition of the Mughal era Mosque – the Babri Majid. In thousands, the mob of Hindu affiliate parties and non political organisations marched towards Ayodhya and hoisted the Saffron flag at the site of the Ram Janambhoomi. Then the courts intervened and the entire mosque/ temple area was sealed off for more than two decades. This flared a massive political slugfest for many years to come. Several political parties cemented their future campaigns in this erry legacy of modern India, especially the BJP and the Congress.
Ultimately, the final judgement in the Ayodhya case declared by the Supreme Court on the 9th of November 2019 handed the verdict in favour of the Hindu groups and the Hindu-Astha, at large. Accordingly, the court ordered the disputed land (2.77 acres) to be handed over to a new trust to construct the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple. Similarly, the apex court also allotted 5 acres of land within Ayodhya, at a different location to construct a Mosque, to the Sunni Waqf Board. Justice was delivered, and hindus all across the globe rejoiced.
The Grand Ram Temple was inaugurated on 22 January 2024 after a prana pratishtha ceremony in the presence of the whos who of the BJP, RSS, hindu organisations, sadhus, rishimoonis, and prominent delegates, celebreties from the length and breadth of India.
Voter alienation has been a major factor in all the phases of election as less people voted this time than anticipated. The Non-jatav Dalits voted for the Indi-alliance. Whereas, the traditional votes from Jats, Thakurs, voted in less numbers and favoured the Indi-alliance in the outcome. The Dalits as a block voted against the BJP because of Indi-alliance’s strong campaigning that spoke about future threats to caste-based reservation and changes to the constitution if the incumbent govt got a majority. Also, the non-Yadav and muslim voters also aligned with the opposition this time, reducing BJPs vote share to drop by a hopping 8.6% making them lose 29 seats from their previous 2019 election tally of 62 out of 80 seats. Shockingly enough, the BJP even lost in Faizabad (Ayodhya) where the grand Ram Temple was inaugurated only a couple of months prior to the general elections by PM Modi speaks volumes about the limited appeal of the communal vote this time around, and that the society in the rustics of Uttar Pradesh is heavily a caste-based society that votes on caste lines more than any other issue. Akhilesh Yadav’s PDA (Pichda, Dalit, & Alpasankhyak) notion really worked and his ticket distribution was apt to be honest, as the Samajwadi Party won 37 seats on its own capacity, while congress won 6 seats. While the BJP reduced itself to just 36 seats.
Clearly, the BJP has had many a things wrong this election where their campaigning lacked the lustre. Secondly, their candidate selection has been widely criticised in UP. Lastly, the Ram Mandir votes that they were banking on with so much certainty, boomeranged in making the opposition creating headway for now. Thus, this election results couldn’t have been more of an eye-opener for the incumbent government. And, if the BJP wants to regain territory in the future, boy, the struggle would be real – as it would need to draw fresh political battle lines and deliver from the front!
Thank you!
– Banraj Kalita