The campaign for Uttar Pradesh, which is the most politically important state in India (which sends 80 MPs to the lower house of parliament) witnessed the main political parties crisscrossing the State canvassing their programs among voters in a vigorous way.
Religious issues like the Ram temple formed core agenda for Bharatiya Janata Party and its nationalism pitch with its ever-ready party machinery taking the narrative into hinterland. Strategically, BJP also built strong social coalitions involving caste centric OBC sub-regional parties such as Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), Jayant Chaudhary Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Anupriya Patel’s Apna Dal (Sonelal), and Sanjay Nishad’s NISHAD in a bid to not leave anything to chance.
The Congress and SP were leading INDIA alliance united we stand campaign that was full of life. The major themes included anxiety about economic collapse, farmer’s distress, and alleged decay of Constitutional and democratic institutions during BJP rule with leaders claiming that the 2024 polls were a vote to save Indian democracy which is under grave threat under the BJP dispensation. Moreover, ‘Caste Census’ formed part of vocabulary used by INDIA alliance members during this election season. However, two of its key allies from previous assembly elections – RLD and SBSP – crossed over to NDA leaving out major sections of broad rainbow alliance that SP had constructed for 2022.
Temple at core
BJP’s campaign in U.P was centered on Ram Temple with PM Narendra Modi going as far as saying that if elected, Congress and SP will bulldoze it , hence opposition must learn from CM Yogi Adityanath on where bulldozers should be deployed.
“After insulting Shree Ram Lalla for years, these parties have rejected invitation for Bhoomi Pujan of grand Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. If Sri Krishna and Mahaveer Prabhu in the form of SP-Congress government comes to power, they will send Lord Ram Lalla back to tent and bulldoze the temple,” Modi said during a rally in Barabanki. Moreover, he alleges that these parties have aligned themselves with those who insult U.P people. PM went on further accusing them by stating “The playbook of the SP and the Congress is dangerous. When they do their politics in south India, they use abusive language for the people of U.P and Sanatana Dharma, but these two parties remain silent”.
In addition to this top BJP leader has also aggressively pitched for revocation of Article 370 in Kashmir as well as India’s hardline position on terror.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav said that this election was about India’s democracy; warning voters that if BJP came back into power it might make a law which snatch rights from farmers and marginalized communities like Scheduled Caste (SC) and backwards.
“This election is the 2024 Lok Sabha Election for us and for future generations. It is like a samudra manthan, an election to save the Constitution and democracy,” he would say in many of his speeches. Congress leader Mr Yadav and Rahul Gandhi also demanded for caste-based-census. In Eastern U.P which has a significant OBC population, this was the main theme of INDIA alliance parties campaign.
Once a strong contender in UP’s electoral calculus, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by its four-time CM Mayawati went solo. She removed her heir-apparent and nephew Akash Anand from senior positions within the party midway through the polling process. The president of the party was absent during most of the campaign trail.