Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday capped a day of electioneering in Uttar Pradesh with prayers at the Ram Temple and followed it up with a massive roadshow in Ayodhya, his first political event in the holy town in this round of elections.
In a televised ceremony two days before the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, Modi was seen prostrating before the idol of Ram Lalla amid the blowing of conch shells, a shower of flower petals and chants of “Jai Shri Ram”.
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“The hearts of the people of Ayodhya are as big as Lord Shri Ram. Greetings to the people who came to give blessings in the road show!,” Modi later said in post on X.
Ten constituencies in UP — Sambhal, Hathras, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Badaun, Bareilly, and Aonla —will vote in the third phase on Tuesday. Voting in the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, under which the Ayodhya district falls, will take place in the fifth phase of the elections on May 20.
The Prime Minister embarked on the roadshow after offering prayers at the temple. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Faizabad candidate Lallu Singh accompanied him.
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People from different walks of life lined the road as Modi’s motorcade passed through. A group of saree-clad women walked in front of the prime minister’s vehicle.
Holding an illuminated lotus (the BJP’s election symbol), Modi waved at the people standing on the sides of the road as his vehicle moved past. The roadshow began from the temple’s entrance and concluded at the Naya Ghat Road crossing.
This was Modi’s third visit to Ayodhya in four months since December.
Through the Sunday roadshow, the BJP is looking to power its appeal to the voters for seats beyond the Faizabad constituency to at least seven other Lok Sabha seats in the so called Ayodhya-Devipatan region including Amethi, Sultanpur, Barabanki, Ambedkar Nagar, Kaiserganj, Shravasti and Bahraich.
In the 2019 elections, the BJP won five — Amethi, Sultanpur, Barabanki, Kaiserganj and Bahraich — of these seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party won the other two — Ambedkar Nagar and Shravasti.
“Why only a few seats, the message from this roadshow will be heard across the country. Then again, its impact will be felt globally as Ayodhya under PM Modi’s rule is now attracting global attention,” said BJP’s Ayodhya MLA Ved Prakash Gupta.
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In the last 35 days, Modi has held eight rallies and three roadshows to fuel BJP’s preparations in Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs — the highest of any state — to the Lok Sabha.
“This roadshow from Ayodhya will unify Hindus and foil the plans of opposition that is flagging caste census pitch to divide Hindus on caste lines. Hindutva and Modi are huge unifying factors and that is why this Modi show is very significant as people are hardly bothered about candidates. Everywhere, the vote is for Modi,” a BJP functionary said requesting anonymity.
Earlier in the day, Modi addressed rallies in Etawah and Sitapur.
At the Sitapur rally, he addressed a public meeting in support of party candidate Rekha Verma in Dhaurahra, and said that the country’s Muslims now understand that the Congress and the Opposition INDIA bloc are using them as pawns for “vote-bank politics”.
Modi said that the poor and those belonging to the SC, ST and OBC communities have also come to the BJP.
“Muslim brothers and sisters are seeing that (houses under) PM housing scheme were given to all the needy. Be it water connection or gas cylinder under Ujjwala Yojana, every government benefit was given to all…they (Muslims) are also getting benefits of all schemes without discrimination,” Modi said.
“The Muslim community also realises that the Congress and INDI alliance have made them pawns,” he said, adding that “that is why the Muslim community is also distancing itself from these contractors of vote bank politics”.
Now, to save the Muslim vote bank, these people (opposition) are playing a new game and are out doing appeasement in the open, he said.
The PM repeated his claim that the Congress manifesto reflects the Muslim League’s thinking.
BR Ambedkar and even Jawaharlal Nehru had said it clearly that there would be no religion-based reservation, but the Congress and INDIA bloc are “adamant on giving reservation on the basis of religion”, he said.
“They don’t realise that they are preparing a ground to break the country once again on the basis of religion,” the Prime Minister said.
He went on to say that in Karnataka, Muslims were “made OBC” overnight and provided reservation from the OBC quota.
“They (Congress) now want to do across the country what they did in Karnataka. They want to rob the reservation for SC, ST and OBC on the basis of religion,” he claimed.
“Politics of appeasement has become compulsory for the existence of ‘shehzade’ of SP and Congress,” Modi said in an apparent attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.
In Etawah, the home district of SP founder late Mulayam Singh Yadav, the PM latched on to a slip of tongue of SP leader Shivpal Yadav, saying that now the party founder’s brother is also appealing to “make BJP win”.
Recalling a statement of Mulayam Singh about him, Modi said, “The Parliament session was going on. It was the last session of Parliament before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when Mulayam Singh ji stood up to make a speech and said ‘you are going to win again’. It became a kind of blessing.”
“Now Netaji (as Mualayam Singh Yadav is often referred to) is not among us but see the coincidence, his own brother is appealing to make BJP win. The words in his heart came to his tongue,” he said.
He was referring to a recent election meeting at Jaswant Nagar where Shivpal Yadav, in the presence of Akhilesh Yadav, made a gaffe by asking people to ensure that on May 7 “the BJP should win with a huge margin”.
The Prime Minister was here to campaign for party candidates from Mainpuri, Kannauj and Etawah.
Mainpuri will go to the polls on May 7, and Kannauj and Etawah will vote on May 13.
The Prime Minister attacked the SP and Congress and said that some people consider Mainpuri, Kannauj, and Amethi-Rae Bareli their legacy.
“What is the legacy of these dynasts? Their legacy is cars, mansions, and political power games. Some consider Mainpuri, Kannauj, and Etawah as their heritage. Some regard Amethi-Rae Bareli as their estates. But Modi’s legacy… a pucca house for the poor. Modi’s legacy — toilets for mothers and sisters. Modi’s legacy provides Dalits and backward classes electricity, gas, and water connections. Modi’s legacy includes free grains, free healthcare, and a National Education Policy. Modi’s legacy belongs to everyone, for everyone,” he said.
The polling in Uttar Pradesh is being held in all seven phases of the Lok Sabha elections. Voting in 16 seats was completed in the first two phases.
