The wind of changing the constitution started blowing from where the temple of Ramlala is. This wind later became a storm. Big faces of BJP failed in the elections. This time broad slogans were raised in Ayodhya. Neither Ayodhya nor Kashi, this time Awadhesh Pasi. Samajwadi Party’s Awadhesh Prasad belongs to Pasi caste among Dalits. His supporters kept chanting the same slogan throughout the election. Even the magic of BJP’s Ka Mandir Ka Pratap and Brand Modi could not work against this slogan. After the consecration of the Ram temple, preparations are underway to collect votes in the name of Hindutva across the country. But BJP’s experiment did not work only in Ayodhya. Ayodhya is part of Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency of UP. There is also an assembly seat called Ayodhya.
Why and how did the BJP finally lose in Faizabad itself? Ram Mandir was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. RSS and BJP together made lakhs of people visit the temple. PM Modi did a road show in Ayodhya. He also visited the home of Dalit woman Meera Manjhi. This was considered a major political message. UP CM Yogi Adityanath also held two election rallies here. But the party of Ram devotees BJP lost the election at the birth place of Ram Lala.
Last time there was an alliance of Samajwadi Party and BSP. However, BJP candidate Lallu Singh won by 65 thousand votes. This time he lost to the Samajwadi Party by 54 thousand votes. BJP’s defeat in Faizabad is the biggest defeat. Ram Mandir has been an issue for the BJP for the last several decades. This has been mentioned in every election manifesto of the party. But the party lost when the Ram temple was built.
Akhilesh experimented big in Faizabad
Akhilesh Yadav conducted a major experiment in Faizabad. He fielded a Dalit candidate in the general Lok Sabha seat. He did a similar experiment in Meerut. But Ramayana serial Ram ie Arun Govil won the election. But Lallu Singh was stuck in Faizabad. Such was the grace of Lord Rama. Akhilesh Yadav reached Faizabad twice to campaign. Once referring to Awadhesh Prasad he was described as a former MLA. Later, taking the mic, Akhilesh said that I told you this because you are going to become an MP.
Post-ticket friendly social engineering
After giving ticket to Awadhesh Prasad, favorable social engineering was done for him. All the surrounding seats were given tickets to the leaders of various castes. Lalchi Verma of Kurmi community contested from Ambedkar Nagar and Nishad community leader got ticket from Sultanpur. While the BJP fielded Thakur and Brahmin leaders as its candidates in seats near Faizabad. Samajwadi Party already had Muslim and Yadav votes. Kurmi-Patel, Nishad and Dalit votes were also added to this. The Jatav voters who supported Mayawati in the name of preserving the Constitution and reservations also supported the Samajwadi Party. He felt that the BSP was not capable of fighting, so he allied with the Samajwadi Party to defeat the BJP.
People were angry about land acquisition
In Faizabad, Dalits are 26 percent, Muslims 14 percent, Kurmis 12 percent, Brahmins 12 percent and Yadavs also 12 percent. BJP candidate Lallu Singh Thakur belongs to the community. He was also MP from here in 2014 and 2019. But this time there was a lot of opposition. The party people were demanding to change the candidate. But it didn’t happen. After the construction of the temple in Ayodhya, many development works took place. But there is a lot of anger among the local people regarding the land acquisition. They feel cheated out of compensation. Local social equations and the anti-incumbency of the BJP candidate raised the Samajwadi Party flag at Ram Lalla’s house.
