Pointing out the defeat of the BJP candidate from Faizabad, where Ayodhya Ram Mandir was situated, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari slammed BJP, saying that the party is a ‘Vyapari’ of Lord Ram not ‘Pujari’.
“Ayodhya was given most of the time and it was made the biggest election plank (by the BJP), but PM Modi couldn’t make their candidate win from there (Faizabad). BJP is the ‘Vyapari’ of Lord Ram not ‘Pujari’,” Pramod Tiwari told ANI.
BJP candidate Lallu Singh lost to Samajwadi Party’s Awadesh Prasad in Uttar Pradesh’s Faizabad constituency. Prasad polled 54,567 more votes than the BJP candidate.
“Key BJP figures, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighted the Ram Mandir Prana Pratishtha ceremony in their campaign addresses, criticizing Opposition leaders for their absence. They accused them of avoiding the event due to appeasement politics. In a retort to the Prime Minister, Pramod Tiwari asserted that candidates from non-BJP parties within the NDA alliance didn’t win solely due to Modi’s popularity.”
“They (NDA) were brought down to 240 seats from 303 seats. NDA did not win seats because of Modiji but because of NDA, BJP won seats,” Tiwari said.
Ram Mandir issue did not pay political dividends to the BJP in the battleground state of Uttar Pradesh where its tally reduced to 35 in the 2024 election from 62 seats in 2019, while the INDIA alliance won 44 seats.
The SP chief Akhilesh Yadav called the victory a “people-loved victory of INDIA alliance.”
Taking to his official X handle, Akhilesh Yadav penned down a note to the people of Uttar Pradesh. Calling them “sensible voters of UP”, he posted, “People-loved victory of INDIA alliance in Uttar Pradesh. It is also a victory of the trust of the Dalit-Bahujan community which, along with its backward, minority, tribal, and all the neglected, exploited and oppressed sections of the society, has fought shoulder to shoulder to save the Constitution which gives the right to equality, respect, self-respect, dignified life and reservation.”
प्रिय ‘उप्र के समझदार मतदाताओं’
उप्र में इंडिया गठबंधन की ‘जन-प्रिय जीत’ :
– उस दलित-बहुजन भरोसे की भी जीत है जिसने अपने पिछड़े, अल्पसंख्यक, आदिवासी, आधी आबादी और अगड़ों में पिछड़े सभी उपेक्षित, शोषित, उत्पीड़ित समाज के साथ मिलकर उस संविधान को बचाने के लिए कंधे-से-कंधा मिलाकर… pic.twitter.com/mTmiFAj0K1
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) June 5, 2024
In the post, he further said that this is the victory of that strong alliance of backwards-dalit-minority-tribal, half the population and backwards among the upper castes in the form of PDA (Pichada, Dalit and Alpsankhyak), which is made even stronger by the people of every society and class with their cooperation and contribution.”