Modi's BJP's failure to retain Faizabad reveals sea change in country's politics

On June 9, Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister of India for a historic third term. But his power and mandate were unexpectedly curtailed. His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fell short of an absolute majority and had to rely on coalition partners to form the government.

The losses were particularly humiliating in the state of Uttar Pradeshand especially in the holy city of Ayodhya. Uttar Pradesh is home to over 257 million people and has the most parliamentary seats of any state in the country. In 2014, when Modi came to power, the people of the state formed the core of the BJP's support.

A few months before the election, Modi inaugurated a controversial new Hindu temple in Ayodhya, on the site of a mosque demolished more than 30 years ago. The political motivations were clear. Modi made the temple’s consecration a major national event, in an attempt to galvanize his conservative Hindu support base.

Ayodhya even suffered a 3 billion US dollars ($2.3 billion), a government-funded transformation to turn it into what some Hindu nationalist leaders have called a Hindu Vatican.

However, voters in Faizabad constituency, which includes Ayodhya, have resoundingly rejected the BJP. Opposition Samajwadi Party candidate Awadhesh Prasad, defeated BJP candidate Lallu Singh won by a margin of nearly 55,000 votes.

Throughout the election campaign, Modi spoke at length about the importance of the Ayodhya temple. greeted The opening of the temple as the realization of a dream that many have had for years.

But voters wanted more than words. The BJP’s defeat in Faizabad shows that disregard for local issues and the use of shrewd, inclusive political tactics can lead to shifts in voter loyalty, even in areas of historical importance to India’s majority Hindu population.

How Indian politics is changing

Ayodhya is considered by many Hindus to be the birthplace of their god Rama and holds immense religious and historical significance. It is also the scene of a land dispute that dates back more than a century.

In 1992, following a nationwide campaign to build a temple on the site of Babri Masjid MosqueTens of thousands of Hindu protesters gathered in Ayodhya and demolished the mosque. Many Hindus believe that the mosque was built on the site of an ancient Hindu temple, which modern archaeological excavations have confirmed. No evidence found yet for.

The demolition of mosques sparked riots Bombings killed nearly 2,000 people across the country, and Muslims and Hindus have since filed numerous lawsuits over who should control the site.

In 2019, India's Supreme Court ruled that the disputed land should be given to Hindus to build a temple, while Muslims should be given land elsewhere to build a mosque. The court then ordered the federal government to set up a fund to manage and supervise the construction of the temples.

Unsurprisingly, this decision did little to ease tensions. The new temple was built partly on land already occupied by minority communities, whose homes were demolished to make way for a 20-metre-wide, 13-kilometre-long path leading to the temple. Many of these displaced residents have not been properly compensated for the loss of their property.

Other residents of Ayodhya too lost their property As part of the government's plan to modernise the city, part of the land belonging to Ayodhya University, next to a cluster of buildings housing staff, has been earmarked for the construction of a new airport.

Prasad capitalized on these and other issues, including simmering anger at unemploymentduring his campaign. India's unemployment rate rose from 7.4% in March to 8.1% in April, compared with around 6% before the pandemic. According to a investigation According to the CSDS-Lokniti polling agency, out of 20,000 voters, unemployment played a key role in determining the votes of 27% of people.

The opposition used the BJP's campaign slogan that it was seeking 400 seats in parliament against the ruling party. With such a broad mandate, they claimsThe BJP could roll back the constitutional rights of historically marginalized communities such as Dalits, who are at the bottom of India's caste hierarchy.

In April, Lallu Singh had stoked fears among Dalits in Faizabad by claiming saying The government would draft a new constitution if it won an absolute majority in parliament. Many Dalits fear that this would mean changing the quota of jobs allocated to minority groups, enshrined in the constitution.

The opposition has also deliberately formed coalitions with Muslims, Dalits and other backward classes (a collective term used by the Indian government to classify lower castes) in many parts of the state. This has further improved their position.

The BJP's defeat in Ayodhya demonstrates that cultural and religious symbolism is not enough to win an election. It shows that political parties in India must strike a balance between symbolic actions, responsible leadership and a more nuanced consideration of regional issues.

In a interview In an interview to Indian Express after his election, Prasad said:

The BJP has been spreading lies in the country, saying, 'Hum Ram ko laaye hain (we have brought Ram back)'. The reality is that they have cheated the country in the name of Ram, done business in the name of Ram, allowed inflation to rise in the name of Ram, created unemployment in the name of Ram and uprooted the poor and farmers in the name of Ram. The BJP has worked to destroy the dignity of Ram. People have understood this.”

For democracy and secularism in India to flourish, it is imperative that all groups believe that their concerns are taken seriously in the political process.