Mahant loses PSO after heated exchange with Ayodhya DM over BJP poll defeat

On Saturday, Mahant Das said he told people at the meeting that party workers alone should not be held responsible for the defeat of the BJP – its two-term MP Lallu Singh lost to SP’s Awadhesh Prasad – because the district administration was equally at fault.

According to the Mahant, the district administration served notices to the people of Ayodhya, directing them to vacate properties (for redevelopment works), just before the elections and this to anger against the ruling party.

“It was around 11 pm Friday when I had an argument with the DM who, along with the SSP, left the meeting immediately. I stepped out after two minutes, only to find that the police gunner for my security was no longer there. I was told that he had been called back immediately,” Mahant Das told The Indian Express.

“I am not going to write to any senior authority in this regard. Santo ki sarkar me santo ka apmaan ho raha hai (sants are being humiliated in the government of sants),” he said.

Reached for comment, District Magistrate Kumar told The Indian Express: “A process was already underway for the withdrawal of his three police gunners ever since we learnt that three criminal cases were lodged against Raju Das in 2013, 2017 and 2023. Two gunners had been withdrawn and the third has been withdrawn now.”

“The gunners were given to him on his request stating he faces a life threat. But we have been receiving complaints about Raju Das misusing the police gunners by threatening people. He has also been using foul language against the administration and people of Ayodhya,” Kumar said.

Surya Pratap Shahi, UP Agriculture Minister and minister in-charge of Ayodhya district, told The Indian Express, “We had review meetings over the Lok Sabha elections and development projects. The election review meeting was held with leaders of the organisation and a separate meeting was held with around five district administration officers. Mahant Raju Das was not invited to the meeting but he reached there. Nothing happened between him and the District Magistrate before me in the meeting. Whatever happened between them was outside.”

On Wednesday and Thursday, a two-member panel comprising UP BJP president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary and Braj region president Durvijay Singh Shakya held closed-door review meetings in all five Assembly segments of the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency. Leaders of the Awadh region were also present in the meetings where feedback was taken from mandal unit workers on the reasons for the party’s defeat.

Anti-incumbency against Lallu Singh, his remarks on how the BJP needed 400 seats to “change the Constitution”, complaints about the local administration, ignoring local concerns were among the factors identified as the reasons for the defeat in Faizabad.

“Party leaders said the public was very upset with the Ayodhya district administration and the inaction of the government on complaints against officials. On the day of polling, officials of Ayodhya Development Authority (ADA) started measuring land that was to be acquired for development of an Aero City township near the airport,” a BJP leader said, adding that “the public was already not in support of the proposed land acquisition”.

Of the five Assembly segments in the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, the BJP only won Ayodhya Sadar, but the margin dropped significantly from 25,587 votes in 2019 to 4,667 votes this time.

Another leader claimed the Opposition circulated a video in which Lallu Singh was heard saying that the BJP needed 400 seats to change the Constitution. This, he said, worked against the BJP.

Dalit votes were critical in turning the tide towards the SP, the leader said.

“The SP fielded a Pasi (Dalit) candidate Awadhesh Prasad. There are over 3 lakh Pasi votes in Faizabad. In the past, they had been voting for BJP. This time, they shifted to the SP as they were upset with Lallu Singh’s remark,” the leader said.

Another BJP leader reportedly told the panel that traders in Ayodhya did not support the party because they were upset with “the hike in various municipal corporation taxes and vehicle challans”.