UP Politics: In 2024, such a policy became part of the political strategy that the politics of many parties took a new turn. After providing free food grains to the poor and enshrining Ram Lalla with PM Modi’s Karkamals, the BJP’s strategy created such an illusion in which BSP supremo Mayawati, who does politics of Dalits, not only got entangled but was also seen failing. Samajwadi Party had also kept an eye on the Lok Sabha elections and Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ became a victory mantra for Akhilesh Yadav.
The year 2024 was recorded in golden letters in the political history of SP. Even though the government could not be formed at the Centre, the Samajwadi Party went ahead of the BJP by winning 37 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. SP has never got so many seats in its more than three decade history. At the same time, under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav, SP became the third largest party in the country. SP definitely suffered a setback in the by-elections held this year, but Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s controversial statement on Baba Saheb Ambedkar gave a big opportunity to the opposition.
Big blow to BJP in 2024!
The year 2024 cannot be called good from BJP’s point of view. The BJP lost the Lok Sabha elections in the same Ayodhya where Ram Lalla was enthroned from the lotus feet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the agenda on which the BJP prepared its strategy for the Lok Sabha elections. Awadhesh Prasad of Samajwadi Party won from here. India alliance strongly criticized BJP over this defeat. Whereas in Uttar Pradesh, BJP’s Lok Sabha seats decreased from 62 to 32 and NDA’s from 64 to 36. Even though BJP has won seven out of nine seats in the by-elections of Uttar Pradesh Assembly, political experts say that the coalition government running at the Center is becoming a headache for the BJP.
PM Narendra Modi (Pic- Social Media)
Narendra Modi’s stature has diminished!
With Ram Mandir, BJP started feeling that Narendra Modi’s slogan of crossing 400 will turn into reality in the Lok Sabha elections, but it did not happen. BJP’s dominance in state politics declined, Narendra Modi had to face difficulties in winning from his parliamentary constituency Varanasi also. In his journey from being the Chief Minister of Gujarat to becoming the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi had to form such a coalition government for the first time, where neither the BJP has an absolute majority nor there is a mix of ideologies. On one hand, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath gave a negative statement regarding the special community in the winter session of the Assembly in Uttar Pradesh, while on the other hand, Union Home Minister Amit Shah gave a controversial statement on Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, not only to the opposition, but also to the NDA chief at the Centre. Many questions were also raised for fellow TDP and Nitish Kumar.
BSP failed due to fear of memorial scam and disintegrating vote bank?
After the controversial statement given by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, the opposition seems to be in aggressive form. On one hand, SP and Congress demonstrated vigorously, while after eight years, BSP workers were also seen on the streets. In the last eight years, incidents took place in the country and many demonstrations took place, but BSP’s participation was not visible in them. However, when it came to honoring Baba Saheb Ambedkar, after eight years BSP also opened its front. Even though after eight years, BSP came out openly in opposition to BJP, but all the BJP leaders who defended Amit Shah’s statement, in the name of opposition, targeted SP and Congress only and did not mention BSP. This is also being considered a part of BJP’s strategy.
Memorial built during BSP government (Pic – Social Media)
BSP, which has been continuously failing in the last several years, never openly opposed the BJP. At the same time, BSP’s core vote bank appeared to be successful in wooing BJP, but in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, this vote bank also appeared to be transferred towards India alliance. The reason for this compulsion of BSP is not clear, but the memorial scam in Uttar Pradesh under the BSP government has definitely given sleepless nights to many. In Lucknow and Noida, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, you will see big parks made of stones. In these parks, statues of great Dalit men will be seen, elephants made of stones and people forced to take selfies in front of them will also be seen.
From 2007 to 2012, there was BSP i.e. Mayawati’s government in Uttar Pradesh. These parks were constructed at that time. Statues of great men who fought for the Dalit society were installed. There should be, they should definitely get respect, but should there be a scam of Rs 14 billion behind these parks? This is the big question and now ED has intensified its investigation in the memorial scam carried out during the BSP government, the concerned retired IS officer and his close ones are being strictly interrogated continuously. There is also news of the names of many leaders being included.
Has the equation changed due to Ravana’s politics?
The politics of Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan, who was considered the center of attraction for Dalit youth, gave a big blow to those doing Dalit vote bank politics. Just a few days after Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister, violence took place in Saharanpur and Chandrashekhar Azad was sent to jail on the same charges. He was released 16 months before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, after which Chandrashekhar Azad said that he has blood relations with BSP leader Mayawati, and she is his aunt, but BSP supremo Mayawati denied it in a press conference.
Chandrashekhar Ravan, MP from Nagina Lok Sabha seat (Pic – Social Media)
Today Chandrashekhar Ravan is an MP from Nagina Lok Sabha seat. At the same time, Mayawati always advised her supporters to stay away from people like Ravan, but in the 2024 Lok Sabha, Ravan became stronger and reached the Parliament. After facing setback from BJP and BSP turning away, Chandrashekhar Ravan of Bhim Army wanted to form an alliance with Samajwadi Party in the Lok Sabha in 2024, but things did not work out. Akhilesh Yadav wanted Chandrashekhar to contest from Agra or Bulandshahr. When things did not work out, he contested from Nagina on Azad Samaj Party ticket and won, which was a shock not only for SP but also for BSP. However, the BJP government had provided Y category security to Chandrashekhar before the Lok Sabha elections.