The UP verdict

IN its manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP patted itself on the back for turning the ‘people’s dream of five centuries’ into reality by building the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The party was hopeful that the inauguration of the temple by PM Narendra Modi would bring rich electoral dividends, especially in the Hindi belt. It was a rude shock for the BJP when it lost the Faizabad parliamentary seat in Ayodhya district to the Samajwadi Party (SP). A BJP supporter candidly admitted that the grandeur of the Ram Mandir might have impressed outsiders, but residents of the town were unhappy over the inconvenience they were subjected to. The Ayodhya upset summed up the reversal of fortunes in UP as the SP-Congress combine punched well above its weight to upstage the mighty BJP.

This was no mean feat for the Opposition duo. The BJP had become nearly invincible in the state over the past decade. The saffron party won 71 Lok Sabha seats out of 80 in 2014 and bagged 62 five years later. The victories in the Assembly elections of 2017 and 2022 were also impressive. With CM Yogi Adityanath firmly at the helm, the party looked set to do an encore in the 2024 elections, but SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and the Gandhi siblings had other ideas.

Akhilesh has attributed the resounding success of the INDIA bloc in UP to the troika of backward classes, Dalits and minorities. The alliance fought the elections on the plank of PDA (Pichhada, Dalit and Alpsankhyak) unity. The BJP, wallowing in complacency, missed no opportunity to ridicule the SP and the Congress while going overboard with communal polarisation. This divisive ploy got a massive pushback from voters, restricting the BJP to 33 seats in the state and dashing its hopes of securing a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha.