Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Ayodhya is once again the spotlight of Uttar Pradesh politics, with Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav and chief minister Yogi Adityanath challenging each other to contest the 2027 assembly elections from the city of the Ram Temple.
The verbal duel has added to the constituency’s profile, already heightened by the BJP’s defeat from the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat in 2024 despite the consecration of the Ram temple the same year and the government’s extensive development push for Ayodhya.
advertisement
While the possibility of Adityanath or Akhilesh actually contesting from Ayodhya remains uncertain, the public challenge reflects how much is at stake for both parties in a constituency that has been a symbol of the BJP’s Hindutva politics and one that the BJP government claims to have transformed through infrastructure development.
The face-off began when Akhilesh, while attending a religious programme in Ayodhya, challenged Adityanath to contest from the seat. The chief minister responded by inviting Akhilesh to face him directly. This also brought into the picture former SP MLA Tej Narain Pandey, popularly known as Pawan Pandey. Akhilesh has already announced Pandey as his party’s candidate from Ayodhya for the elections next year.
Pandey’s candidature presents a challenge for the BJP beyond the traditional contest between its Hindutva plank and the SP’s social coalition. The Brahmin leader has repeatedly questioned the BJP over alleged irregularities in land purchases for the Ram Temple and management of the temple’s donations.
The allegations have given the Opposition in Uttar Pradesh an issue to take on the BJP over accountability of a place where the BJP has invested considerable political capital. The Ram Temple trust has faced scrutiny over donation-related allegations, with the donation theft case reaching the Supreme Court.
Ayodhya’s significance also comes from the contrast between the BJP’s long record in the assembly constituency and its setback in the larger Faizabad parliamentary seat. The BJP has held the assembly seat for much of the past three decades, but its support has not always been as strong. In 1991, at the height of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, BJP leader Lallu Singh won with about 51 per cent of the votes. The party retained the seat in 1993, but its vote share and winning margin declined in subsequent elections.
The SP broke the BJP’s hold in 2012 when Pandey defeated Singh by just over 5,000 votes. The BJP returned to victory in the constituency in 2017, with Ved Prakash Gupta winning by a margin of more than 50,000 votes. Gupta retained the seat in 2022, but the margin fell to around 20,000 votes as Pandey increased the SP’s vote share. The results showed that the BJP remained ahead but was not immune to changes in local voting patterns.
The 2024 Lok Sabha poll result in Faizabad, under which Ayodhya falls, made that more obvious. The SP’s Awadhesh Prasad, a Dalit leader, defeated BJP incumbent Lallu Singh. This was despite the Ram temple consecration being presented by the BJP as a major political and cultural milestone. In this election, while the BJP still led in the Ayodhya assembly segment by 4,667 votes, the SP won the parliamentary constituency by gaining ground in the other four assembly segments of Dariyabad, Rudauli, Milkipur and Bikapur.
Caste arithmetic will be central to the next assembly poll contest. Ayodhya has a sizeable Dalit electorate, alongside Brahmins, other upper-caste groups, OBC communities, Muslims and Yadavs. The BJP draws support from upper castes and sections of non-Yadav OBC voters while the SP has a traditional base among Yadavs and Muslims and is trying to widen its appeal to Dalits through its PDA (Picchda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) strategy.
Prasad’s victory in 2024 gave the SP an opportunity to present itself as a credible alternative for Dalit voters, particularly at a time when the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has weakened electorally. The BJP, meanwhile, needs to prevent the consolidation of Dalit and OBC votes behind the SP from becoming a lasting trend. Pandey’s presence could complicate matters further if he draws support from sections of Brahmin and other upper-caste voters, who might otherwise back the BJP. However, the eventual result will depend on candidate selection, alliances and how effectively each party mobilises different communities.
There is also a governance question. The transformation of Ayodhya into a major religious tourism destination has brought large investments in roads, hotels, transport and other infrastructure. Visitor numbers have risen sharply since the temple’s consecration, creating new economic opportunities. But the rapid expansion has also placed pressure on local infrastructure, housing and civic services. Drainage, roads and unfinished projects have remained concerns for residents even as the government highlights the scale of development.
Before the temple’s consecration, Ayodhya’s economy relied largely on a modest pilgrimage trade, with limited large-scale hospitality and employment opportunities. The surge in visitors has changed the scale of economic activity, but the benefits are not necessarily distributed evenly. For residents, the test of development is not only the number of pilgrims arriving or investments announced, but whether local businesses, workers and households see a sustained improvement in their lives.
For the SP, Ayodhya offers an opportunity to test whether its gains among Dalits and other communities can be sustained in a constituency associated with the BJP’s strongest political messaging. For the BJP, retaining the assembly seat would help counter the impression that its grip on the city of Lord Ram has weakened.
Subscribe to India Today Magazine
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
