Ram temple is no longer an issue in fight for Ayodhya

Ayodhya: In this town of temples, Ram temple is no longer an issue. What is an issue is the fact that the BJP candidate has become irrelevant but the party has become more important, a Muslim candidate is gaining ground, the sitting SP MLA has annoyed people with his arrogance and dalits have been led to believe that all those who opened Jan Dhan accounts will be given Rs 50,000 after the elections.

In 2012, when the BJP’s Lallu Singh lost the Ayodhya seat  after 21 years to Samajwadi Party’s Tej Narain Pandey, it was widely believed that the clock had turned a full circle and the Ram temple had ceased to be an election issue.

“Ayodhya has suffered enough because of this temple talk. It has been almost a quarter of a century since the mosque was pulled down and people are actually weary of this issue. The temple has not been built but hundreds of families have lost their livelihood because of intermittent agitations over the issue. Everyone here now knows the temple will be built only after the Supreme Court allows it,” says Kishori Lal Gupta, a bookseller in Katra.

SP minister Tej Narain Pandey who had won the seat in 2012 is on a sticky wicket. The “arrogance” and “high-handedness” of his supporters have turned him into a not-so-favored candidate. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav made a personal appeal to the people at a rally two days ago and even sought forgiveness for the “candidate’s mistakes”.

BSP has fielded Bazmi Siddiqui. The 34-year-old businessman may be a political greenhorn but he is already posing a challenge to the ruling party.

“The good thing about Bazmi is he is not seeking votes because he is a Muslim but he is talking about good governance and better law and order situation. Besides, most of us are unhappy with the SP minister who did little for the constituency,” says Fahim, who owns a printing press.

BSP could emerge as the dark horse if it manages to keep the 60,000 dalits intact but it is here that the problem begins to emerge.

A local journalist, who did not wish to be named, says that since the past two days, a strong rumor is doing the rounds that those who have opened zero balance accounts will be given '50,000 after polls and this money will come from the amount deposited in banks after demonetisation.

“No one knows who started this rumor but it has caught on in a big way and dalits are shifting loyalties to the BJP,” he said.

The Dalits, in any case, were not hit by demonetization. If this trend continues, the BSP will lose ground”, he says. The upper caste anger continues to simmer on the demonetization issue.

“My two sons have lost their jobs in Mumbai and are back home. My business has taken a beating and I have had to postpone my daughter’s wedding. After all this, do you think I will still vote for BJP? I may not shift to other parties but I will not vote this time”, says Ram Kunwar Singh, a dealer in automobile accessories, in Tedhiganj.

Ved Prakash Gupta, the BJP candidate, is a turncoat. He had contested from Ayodhya on a BSP ticket in 2012 and before that, he was with SP.

Incidentally, the local BJP MP Lallu Singh was held hostage by the local people in Ayodhya last month in protest against poor candidate selection.

“The candidate has become irrelevant and it is the lotus and the face of Modi that matters and people are going to vote for this”, says Ram Narain Pandey, a local BJP worker.