Why Did The BJP Suffer An Anomalous Loss In Ayodhya?

Why Did The BJP Suffer An Anomalous Loss In Ayodhya?

Context : Bharatiya Janata Party has gained a recognition of a big card since the past few years due to its extraordinary style of governance and unique goals. Recent elections of 2024 has unleashed a shocking overturn of the expectations of BJP. Despite raising the Ayodhya Ram Temple issue with an intention towards winning the elections, the saffron party remained unreacheable to its goals in the constituency.

The two-time BJP MLA Lallu Singh has been defeated by over 55,000 votes by the nine-time Samajwadi Party’s MLA Awadhesh Prasad. Awadesh Prasad has also been a former minister from Pasi (Scheduled Caste) community.

The very interesting slogans that came along the way from both the parties to win the constituency of Ayodhya were –

  • BJP – “Jo Ram ko laaye hain, hum unko laayenge”
  • Samajwadi Party – “Na Mathura, Na Kashi, abki baar Awadhesh Pasi”

However this is not the first time loss of BJP over its strong motives, Despite the BJP election campaign in 2022 Assembly elections built around the “Ram Janmabhoomi Andolan” and the “Double-engine government” , they faced a massive loss in one of the three seats of Ayodhya district - Milkipur (SC reserved) to the Samajwadi Party.

What are the reasons behind BJP’s loss in Ayodhya?

  • Captivating Development for outsiders – Days after the temple consecration ceremony, The State government of Uttar Pradesh (BJP) launched special schemes to provide free travel for devotees to Ram Mandir, efficient airport and railways infrastructure to facilitate the visitors with easy travel, establishing various popular companies like MakeMyTrip & Goibibo for easy accomodation of tourists and so on which led to the negligence over the development of local population of Ayodhya for both the ones who were common residents and the ones who had to give away their lands, houses and property for the temple expansion.
  • Dismantling faith of the Population – The roadshows of BJP saw the party leader crediting the saffron party with providing concrete house to the deity along with four crore people underscoring that “There was a time when Ram Lala was living in a tent”. While to some people it played as a worthy factor, some were heavily dissapointed to hear such materialistic comments on Lord Rama.
  • Improper Compensation – Residents claimed that the loss of their property to construct a 20-metre wide ad 13-kilometre long path called ‘Rampath’ leading to the newly constructed temple was not properly compensated. Not only that but also the heritage temples which were once considered to be the birthplace of Lord Ram such as Janki Shukla Mandir, Dashrath Mahal and Lal Mohariya Chah Bhaiyya Dharamshala were demolished for the temple expansion.
  • Negligence towards local people – While the expansion of Temple remained the only push factor of BJP in Ayodhya, a lot of local vendors, small scale businesspersons, shop[keepers, artisans and craftsperson were compelled to vacate the market place for construction and later were demanded ample amount of money to reopen their businesses at the same market place. This caused chaos in the local people that remained unaddressed by the existing MLA.
  • Challenges to daily life of residents – The numerous challenges that came out after the temple consecration were heavy barricading, Outflowing police presence, Traffic diversions, Bureaucratic dominance etc which were heavily ignored by the authorities who still harped on bringing Lord Ram home.
  • Other narratives – while some people believe the main reason for loss is the consequences of temple construction, a lot of people believe that since the majority of voters are Dalits traditionally voting for BSP and BJP, this time they voted for SP’s Dalit candidate as they got a clear message that “Baba Saheb’s constitution will be changed”.

Significance of Ram Mandir in Art & Culture of India

  • Completion of 200 year old saga that impacts the social, political and cultural landscape of India, The Ram Mandir in Ayodhya was inaugurated on 22nd January 2024.
  • The temple is designed in the Nagara style of temple architecture.
  • The story of Lord Ram composed as Ramayana stretches its root from India to Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Guyana and Mauritius.
  • The temple is 3 storeyed complex made with pink sandstone from Mirzapur and the hills of Bansi Paharpur in Rajasthan.
  • Area expansion of the temple is 71 acres.
  • The temple consists of 390 pillars, 46 doorways, 5 mandapas.
  • The main Garbha Griha is where the idol of Ram Lalla has been placed along with many mandapas including Rang Mandapa, Nritya Mandapa etc.
  • No iron has been used in the temple construction making it earthquake resistant, rust resistant and durable for atleast a millenium.

The Idol of Ram Lalla

  • The idol represents the five year old Ram Lalla crafted by Arun Yogiraj (a Mysuru sculptor).
  • It is of 51 inches in height and was consecrated in a special ceremony “Pran Pratishtha”.
  • On every noon of Ram Navami, a system of mirrors and lenses will focus the sun rays on the idol of Ram Lalla.

The issue however remains the steal of the show in the 2024 elections, it is very important for the aspirants of UPSC/PSC to understand the gravity of results demonstrated by Uttar Pradesh voters. They have successfully exhibited the victory of socioeconomic justice over corporate-drive communal politics.

The famous journalist Indu Bhushan Pandey states : “Ram is believed to be an embodiment of righteousness. But the BJP tried to use him for electoral gains”.