Defeated BJP MP Lallu Singh blames Ayodhya loss on his 'shortcoming'

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered one of its most shocking Lok Sabha debacles when it lost an Uttar Pradesh seat where Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened a grand Ram temple with much fanfare and hoopla only in January.

It was a highly-publicised event that was believed would help the BJP sweep the general elections.

Two-time BJP MP Lallu Singh lost the Faizabad-Ayodhya seat to the Samajwadi Party’s Awadesh Prasad, a Dalit who has been a nine-time MLA in Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP could win only 33 of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 Lok Sabha seats in a stunning electoral reversal that both party sources and political pundits attributed to voter anger over lack of jobs and soaring food prices.

Ram temple opening

It was on January 22 that Modi, in a grand display of religiosity, opened a much-promised Ram temple at the site of the 16th century Babri mosque which Hindu mobs razed in 1992, giving a huge fillip to Hindu nationalist politics across the country.

The temple inauguration, amid nationwide media glare, was widely seen as a political move that would generate tremendous benefits in the impending Lok Sabha elections whose results came out on June 4.

The BJP lost its overall parliamentary majority although it managed to cobble the numbers with the help of smaller allies. BJP leaders admitted that the Faizabad-Ayodhya result was unexpected and a political blow.

Ayodhya BJP candidate

’"I could not protect your and Ayodhya's dignity, there must have been some shortcoming in me," said Lallu Singh, the defeated BJP candidate, after the verdict became known.

"There must have been some reason that we couldn't win in the Ayodhya parliamentary region," he added in his address to party workers.

“I will introspect about myself. There could have been a reason that we lost this election. Despite Modi-Yogi leadership, this has happened, so there must be some major flaw in me. Go to your home now. Do not lose your heart," he further said.

But political pundits said the real blame for the Ayodhya loss should go both to Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on account of their poor governance.

The BJP had won 71 and 62 Lok Sabha seats in India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh, in 2014 and 2019 respectively. The state tally has now fallen to 33.

"We are very happy with the temple but people were fed up with the BJP," Rakesh Yadav, chairperson of the Ayodhya traders body, told the media.

People’s anger

He said there was anger among small business owners for getting lower than expected compensation when their shops were demolished during Ayodhya’s redevelopment ahead of the temple inauguration.

Analysts to the issues of unemployment and high inflation - two key concerns of voters that surveys showed trumped religion.