UP Elections: Ram Temple returns to be the main issue in Ayodhya, but in a different garb

Ahead of elections, BJP's banners and posters that dotted the houses and appeared on the streets mostly talk about the Ram Temple

The Ram Temple issue, which has dominated the political and electoral discourse in Uttar Pradesh since 1991 and decided the outcome of the polls, again threatens to overshadow the real issues in this religious town, this time though in a different garb.

The issue is the same but the slogans have changed.

If it was 'Saugandh Ram ki khate hain, mandir wahin banayenge' (we swear in the name of Lord Ram that we will build the temple at his birthplace) from 1991 till the Supreme Court verdict favoured Hindu litigants in November 2019, now the slogan of the BJP is 'Jo Ram ko laye hain, ham unko layenge' (we will bring those to power who have brought Lord Rama here).

BJP's banners and posters that dotted the houses and appeared on the streets mostly talk about the Ram Temple.

''Do you think that Ram Temple could ever have become a reality if there Samajwadi Party or BSP or Congress had been in power?'' asked Swami Shivramanda, an ascetic, who had made Ayodhya his home for the past ten years, told this correspondent sitting on the bank of the sacred Saryu river here.

His disciple Girija Devi also echoes a similar sentiment though she does admit that prices of essential commodities have risen sharply under the BJP regime. ''It is the responsibility of the government to control the prices,'' she said.

Another seer Raghuveer Das also said that the credit for the construction of the Ram Temple should go to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

A majority of the devotees, who thronged the sacred river to take a dip from different parts of the state and country, expressed their happiness that the Ram Temple would be a reality very soon but were not in favour of making it an issue in the elections. ''Ram belongs to everyone...it is not the property of any individual or political party and no party should use the name of Lord Rama in the polls,'' said Ghanshyam Sawant, who had come from Maharashtra.

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Interestingly, many people, especially the traders, who sold religious books and other items needed for puja, were critical of the sitting BJP MLA from the town, Ved Prakash Gupta, who has been re-nominated, saying that he was inaccessible and also that he did not take up the issue of demolition of hundreds of shops of the small traders for the widening of the roads here. The traders had also closed their establishment in protest against the demolition. ''Gupta had in fact supported the demolition,'' said one of the shop owners.

BJP leaders, however, said that the people would be voting for Modi and Adityanath and not for Gupta in the polls. ''We have to look at the larger picture....the MLA doesn't matter,'' said a local BJP leader.

Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Tej Narayan Pandey alias Pawan Pandey, on the other hand, appeared to be more popular with the traders and other sections of the population here. Pandey rejected the assertion that Ram Temple was an issue in the polls.''People will be voting on real issues and not on Ram Temple.....the electorate here are not happy with their representative and the government... SP is getting the support from every section of the society this time,'' Pandey, who had won the seat in 2012 polls, told DH.

Though the town appeared same with narrow, cramped lanes and traffic jams, the real estate prices have shot up several times after the SC verdict, and construction activities have picked up in Ayodhya and nearby areas. There were reports that politicians and bureaucrats had bought large tracts of lands in and around Ayodhya after the verdict. Some office bearers of the Ram Temple Trust, which is overseeing the construction of the Temple, were also accused of financial irregularities in the purchase of land for the Temple construction.

BJP was banking on the support of its traditional Brahmin, Thakur and Bania votes along with the votes of the Nishad community as it has an alliance with the Nishad Party, who together numbered around 1.75 lakh. Pandey, however, is also relying on Brahmin voters who alone numbered around 64,000 along with his party's core vote bank, comprising Muslims and Yadav, who together were around 92,000.

It remains to be seen if Ram Temple triumphs here again. The seat will go polls in the fifth phase of polling on Sunday, February 27.

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