With Modi rather than mandir, BJP optimistic in Faizabad
In 2009, the BJP led Ayodhya assembly segment while Khatri led the other four, in which Lallu finished either third or fourth.
Fifteen years after the Ram Janmabhoomi movement helped the BJP win 58 seats in UP, the seat of the movement is seeing a wave of optimism in the BJP. The difference is that in place of what is called “Ram Mandir lehr”, Faizabad’s BJP supporters are being driven solely by Narendra Modi’s appeal.
The party candidate is Lallu Singh, who had lost to the SP’s Mitrasen Yadav in 2004 and to the Congress’s Nirmal Khatri in 2009. Khatri, the Congress state president, and Mitrasen, now an MLA, are both contesting, but the fight is seen as a a direct one between the former and the BJP. Congress flags flutter on the terraces of Muslim homes even in Bikapur assembly segment, held by Mitrasen. Jitendra Singh Babloo is the BSP candidate.
While Hindus both of upper castes and of backward classes appear inclined towards the BJP because of Modi, Khatri has held his own despite anti-incumbency, thanks to a rigorous campaign and the work he has done in his five years.
Local BJP workers compare the current support to that of 1999, when Vinay Katiyar had won. “As the Ram temple issue fell out of focus, the BJP lost in 2004 and 2009. We lost the Ayodhya assembly seat too in 2012,” said a BJP leader after Modi’s public meeting Monday.
At a public meeting in Ayodhya Monday, three-time MP Katiyar said, “I don’t feel Lallu Singh is contesting this time. It is Narendra Modi who is contesting.”
Travelling across areas urban or rural, one finds few BJP supporters with any kind words for Lallu Singh. “He lost the 2012 assembly election because of his arrogance; he had taken supporters for granted. I will vote for the BJP not because of Lallu but for Modi,” says Ram Charitra Dubey in Ramkot area, barely 100 metres from the disputed site in Ayodhya. “Only Modi can bring back development, which has stopped since the demolition in 1992,” says Dubey, who for 20 years has been selling copies of Ram Janmabhoomi ka Raktranjit Itihas.
Every house and shop in Ramkot has a BJP flag at its front as well as its terrace. Dashrath Mahal priest Surendra Das says seers of Ayodhya expect construction of a Ram temple only under a Modi government. But the temple is not an issue for the common man here; his wish list has development and unrestricted movement around the disputed site.
In 2009, the BJP led Ayodhya assembly segment while Khatri led the other four, in which Lallu finished either third or fourth.
“As Muslims are supporting the Congress to defeat Modi, I will vote for the BJP to ensure Modi’s win,” says Kamlesh Verma, a farmer at Aruvavan village in Bikapur.
Imamat Hussain, another farmer, who lives barely 200 metres from Verma’s house, refuses to divulge whom he will vote for. “I will vote for a secular party that can defeat Modi,” Hussain says, referring to the Gujarat riots.
Units of the RSS, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the ABVP, the Bajrang Dal and the Hindu Yuva Vahini are campaigning for the BJP in Faizabad, which goes to polls Wednesday.
Lalmani is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, and is based in New Delhi. He covers politic... Read More
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