Saurabh Mukherjee
When a 79-year-old veteran Dalit leader from Samajwadi Party (SP), Awadesh Prasad, registered a thumping victory over his nearest rival, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Lallu Singh on June 4 in Ayodhya, which falls under Faizabad Parliamentary constituency, it sent ripples of astonishment across India.
The Ram temple, built over a demolished mosque, was thought to be the project that would seal Narendra Modi’s fate as Prime Minister of India for the third time in a row, but moreover would put BJP’s Hindutva agenda on top, by blatantly ignoring the rights and sentiments of its minority populations.
However, it was not be. The most talked about story on the day of counting was the remarkable turnaround by the SP, the part of INDIA Bloc with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. In Faizabad, Prasad won by a margin of 54,567 votes.
Ram and elections
The inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22, was dubbed as a tectonic shift to India’s post-independence position, a shift that compromised India’s secular principles.
The Idea of India, during the rule of BJP, especially during Narendra Modi’s decade long tenure, had seen unimaginable erosion, at a steady pace. Modi’s central role in the Ram Mandir’s inauguration was not just a religious act but a clear deviation from India’s Constitutional decrees. The construction of the temple was being positioned as a milestone in India’s journey, equating to its liberation from the colonial rule.
The inauguration of Ram Mandir, was the Balakot strike of 2019, both done to ameliorate Lok Sabha outcomes. With India, on the brink of new lows on all fronts of human development index, the focus was well and truly on the religious monument. The Ram Mandir’s consecration played a significant role in Modi’s campaign strategy during election campaigning. “Jo Ram ko laye hain, hum unko layenge (We will bring to power those who brought Ram)” became BJP’s go to line.
The BJP tried to leverage its Hindu nationalist credentials and unabashedly sought votes in the name of Ram during the election campaigns. Communal slur and divisive speeches during election campaign from many BJP leaders including PM Modi, will forever be itched as the despairing highlight of these elections.
Vilifying voters of Ayodhya
After June 4, when the people of Ayodhya outrightly rejected BJP’s Mandir agenda, coupled by BJP’s disastrous performance in Uttar Pradesh, the right-wing ecosystem purportedly started targeting the people of Ayodhya, by running online hate campaign.
In a video surfaced on social media, a person with a BJP scarf wrote Ayodhya's name and sets it on fire. A caption in the video read “Ayodhya, Prabhu Shree Ram ki laaj to rak lete.”
In other post, a person named Pawan Sahu from Rajasthan’s Bhilwara through a video speech abused the people of Ayodhya. He has 4.5 Million followers on Instagram, 25 Million subscribers on YouTube and 2.4 lakh followers on Facebook.
In one post, a person called Amit Pandit abused the Hindus of Ayodhya for not voting for the BJP. He called for the boycott of the Ram Mandir. Yet another social media user, identified by the name Deepa Dwivedi, accused the people of Ayodhya being “two-faced” since the times of Ram.
A notable hate comment came from none other than actor Sunil Lahri, who played Lakshman in the iconic television serial Ramayana. One of the Inta Stories shared by Lahri had a picture from the iconic Baahubali scene where Kattappa kills Baahubali. BJP was written on Baahubali while Kattappa had Ayodhya written on him.
In another Story, Lahri shared a note in Hindi which more or less translates as, “We are forgetting that these are the same Ayodhya citizens who doubted Goddess Sita after she returned from exile. What do you call that person who even denies God? Selfish. History is witness that the citizens of Ayodhya have always betrayed their king. Shame on them.”
In the last of his Instagram stories, his statement read, “We salute your greatness dear citizens of Ayodhya, you are the ones who didn’t spare even Goddess Sita. We are not shocked that you betrayed the man who made sure that Lord Ram came out of that small tent and was installed in a beautiful temple. The entire nation will never see you with respect again.”
Main stream BJP leaders were also not far away. The BJP MP-elect from Unnao, Sakshi Maharaj blamed the people of Ayodhya for the defeat.
Expressing unhappiness, the BJP MP said, “I have seen Ayodhya’s land become red with the blood of ram bhakts. With these hands I have carried [the bodies of] Ram bhakts. But what misfortune, the same Ayodhya today elected an SP MP!”
No more 'Jai Shree Ram'
While Uttar Pradesh surprised the BJP, as the making the Ram Temple was a core campaign issue in these elections, in Odisha the BJP tasted success by winning 78 out of the 147 assembly seats, with the incumbent Biju Janata Dal (BJD) winning 51 seats, and the Congress 14.
In a clear deviation from his normal discourse, during his victory speech from the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on June 4, Modi chanted “Jai Jagannath” instead of “Jai Shree Ram”.
Modi began his 34-minute speech by chanting “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Jai Jagannath” in a nod to the assembly and Lok Sabha victories in Odisha, even as the crowd chanted “Jai Shree Ram.” He demonstrated that his relationship with Ram and Hindu faith was based on a profit-loss equation.
UP chief minister, Yogi Adhithya, who ranted in almost all election rallies that these elections were a contest between Ram Bhakts (devotees) and Ram drohis (traitors), also went quite on Ram, post June 4.
The Other Ayodhya
The defeat in Faizabad for the BJP might have come due to multiple factors such as SP’s ticket distribution to a respected Dalit leader, the anti-incumbency against BJP, people facing hardships, and a possible shift of Dalit votes to SP as the community have finally dumped the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as protector of their rights.
But beyond everything, the main reason for BJP’s defeat was something else. Outside BJP’s imagination of Ayodhya with the glitz and grandeur of Ram Mandir, there is another Ayodhya, which the party overlooked. Beyond the temple and Diwali celebrations hotels on the banks of Sarayu River, there are people, who mostly live hand to mouth and mind their business.
The Ram Temple projected brought closure of many small businesses, shops and old temples. Encroachment of land and demolitions of homes of the poor were done without proper compensation. The promises of airports, millions of investments and big infrastructure projects mean nothing to locals if their roof and food are taken away.
Ayodhya’s demographic, with its prominent minority population, also made BJP’s narrative of targeting Muslims as a direct threat to India’s secular and pluralistic democracy.
The Ram temple, built over a demolished mosque, was thought to be the project that would seal Narendra Modi’s fate as Prime Minister of India for the third time in a row, but moreover would put BJP’s Hindutva agenda on top, by blatantly ignoring the rights and sentiments of its minority populations.
However, it was not be. The most talked about story on the day of counting was the remarkable turnaround by the SP, the part of INDIA Bloc with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. In Faizabad, Prasad won by a margin of 54,567 votes.
Ram and elections
The inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22, was dubbed as a tectonic shift to India’s post-independence position, a shift that compromised India’s secular principles.
The Idea of India, during the rule of BJP, especially during Narendra Modi’s decade long tenure, had seen unimaginable erosion, at a steady pace. Modi’s central role in the Ram Mandir’s inauguration was not just a religious act but a clear deviation from India’s Constitutional decrees. The construction of the temple was being positioned as a milestone in India’s journey, equating to its liberation from the colonial rule.
The inauguration of Ram Mandir, was the Balakot strike of 2019, both done to ameliorate Lok Sabha outcomes. With India, on the brink of new lows on all fronts of human development index, the focus was well and truly on the religious monument. The Ram Mandir’s consecration played a significant role in Modi’s campaign strategy during election campaigning. “Jo Ram ko laye hain, hum unko layenge (We will bring to power those who brought Ram)” became BJP’s go to line.
The BJP tried to leverage its Hindu nationalist credentials and unabashedly sought votes in the name of Ram during the election campaigns. Communal slur and divisive speeches during election campaign from many BJP leaders including PM Modi, will forever be itched as the despairing highlight of these elections.
Vilifying voters of Ayodhya
After June 4, when the people of Ayodhya outrightly rejected BJP’s Mandir agenda, coupled by BJP’s disastrous performance in Uttar Pradesh, the right-wing ecosystem purportedly started targeting the people of Ayodhya, by running online hate campaign.
In a video surfaced on social media, a person with a BJP scarf wrote Ayodhya's name and sets it on fire. A caption in the video read “Ayodhya, Prabhu Shree Ram ki laaj to rak lete.”
In other post, a person named Pawan Sahu from Rajasthan’s Bhilwara through a video speech abused the people of Ayodhya. He has 4.5 Million followers on Instagram, 25 Million subscribers on YouTube and 2.4 lakh followers on Facebook.
In one post, a person called Amit Pandit abused the Hindus of Ayodhya for not voting for the BJP. He called for the boycott of the Ram Mandir. Yet another social media user, identified by the name Deepa Dwivedi, accused the people of Ayodhya being “two-faced” since the times of Ram.
A notable hate comment came from none other than actor Sunil Lahri, who played Lakshman in the iconic television serial Ramayana. One of the Inta Stories shared by Lahri had a picture from the iconic Baahubali scene where Kattappa kills Baahubali. BJP was written on Baahubali while Kattappa had Ayodhya written on him.
In another Story, Lahri shared a note in Hindi which more or less translates as, “We are forgetting that these are the same Ayodhya citizens who doubted Goddess Sita after she returned from exile. What do you call that person who even denies God? Selfish. History is witness that the citizens of Ayodhya have always betrayed their king. Shame on them.”
In the last of his Instagram stories, his statement read, “We salute your greatness dear citizens of Ayodhya, you are the ones who didn’t spare even Goddess Sita. We are not shocked that you betrayed the man who made sure that Lord Ram came out of that small tent and was installed in a beautiful temple. The entire nation will never see you with respect again.”
Main stream BJP leaders were also not far away. The BJP MP-elect from Unnao, Sakshi Maharaj blamed the people of Ayodhya for the defeat.
Expressing unhappiness, the BJP MP said, “I have seen Ayodhya’s land become red with the blood of ram bhakts. With these hands I have carried [the bodies of] Ram bhakts. But what misfortune, the same Ayodhya today elected an SP MP!”
No more 'Jai Shree Ram'
While Uttar Pradesh surprised the BJP, as the making the Ram Temple was a core campaign issue in these elections, in Odisha the BJP tasted success by winning 78 out of the 147 assembly seats, with the incumbent Biju Janata Dal (BJD) winning 51 seats, and the Congress 14.
In a clear deviation from his normal discourse, during his victory speech from the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on June 4, Modi chanted “Jai Jagannath” instead of “Jai Shree Ram”.
Modi began his 34-minute speech by chanting “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Jai Jagannath” in a nod to the assembly and Lok Sabha victories in Odisha, even as the crowd chanted “Jai Shree Ram.” He demonstrated that his relationship with Ram and Hindu faith was based on a profit-loss equation.
UP chief minister, Yogi Adhithya, who ranted in almost all election rallies that these elections were a contest between Ram Bhakts (devotees) and Ram drohis (traitors), also went quite on Ram, post June 4.
The Other Ayodhya
The defeat in Faizabad for the BJP might have come due to multiple factors such as SP’s ticket distribution to a respected Dalit leader, the anti-incumbency against BJP, people facing hardships, and a possible shift of Dalit votes to SP as the community have finally dumped the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as protector of their rights.
But beyond everything, the main reason for BJP’s defeat was something else. Outside BJP’s imagination of Ayodhya with the glitz and grandeur of Ram Mandir, there is another Ayodhya, which the party overlooked. Beyond the temple and Diwali celebrations hotels on the banks of Sarayu River, there are people, who mostly live hand to mouth and mind their business.
The Ram Temple projected brought closure of many small businesses, shops and old temples. Encroachment of land and demolitions of homes of the poor were done without proper compensation. The promises of airports, millions of investments and big infrastructure projects mean nothing to locals if their roof and food are taken away.
Ayodhya’s demographic, with its prominent minority population, also made BJP’s narrative of targeting Muslims as a direct threat to India’s secular and pluralistic democracy.
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