The BJP’s paradoxical defeat in Faizabad
The party’s defeat is neither a rejection of the Ram temple nor the negation of Hindutva but was partly enabled by the bulldozer-led in Ayodhya
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The defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s two-time Faizabad MP, Lallu Singh, stunned most observers. However, both the Hindu right-wing and liberals have been imputing misguided reasons for the defeat of the BJP in the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, in the general election results declared on June 4.
Although the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute is of pre-partition origins, Faizabad constituency, which includes Ayodhya, has not always been a Jan Sangh or BJP stronghold. What has been a constant there is the interplay of caste and communitarian dynamics.
The Congress and socialist groups have dominated most of its complicated electoral history. These political groups were, in effect, the Khatris, Kayasthas and Muslims since colonial times. While communal undertones marked their interactions these groups also managed to act as a counter to Sangh attempts in the region.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad and BJP did eventually manage to achieve communal consolidation in Faizabadi civil society, accelerating this process after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992, but the same period saw the rise of Dalit politics too, throwing up varied permutations and combinations of voter consolidation.
The BJP’s loss is neither a rejection of the Ram temple nor the negation of Hindutva but a repeat expression...
