Lucknow, Dec 30
Uttar Pradesh is, perhaps, the only state in the country that will witness a perfectly heady mix of religion and politics in 2024.
Uttar Pradesh will enter the New Year with the grand opening of the Ram temple that will be preceded by a massive publicity blitzkrieg which is bound to have an undeniable impact on politics.
The Ram temple will also be the BJP’s biggest election issue – one that will not allow the Opposition to make any counter-attack.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are a milestone for Uttar Pradesh which sends the maximum number of 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha and helps in government formation at the Centre.
The temple and the general elections, as electioneering picks up, will get intertwined to such an extent that one will impact the other. Both the events will be defining moments for the state.
Besides, the Kashi-Gyanvapi and Mathura-Krishna Janmabhoomi issues have also reached the courts and the events that unfold in 2024 will revolve around these two shrines.
The year, therefore, will see Hindutva surging like never before and the BJP seeing a fulfilment of its promise of liberating the shrines in Ayodhya-Kashi-Mathura from Mughal presence.
This will give the ruling BJP a major push for the general elections and if their campaign goes according to plan, it may even override casteism which will, again, be advantage BJP.
The year 2024 will also see the emergence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as an unparalleled Hindu leader.
For the last one-and-a-half years, Yogi Adityanath has been spending most of his waking hours in planning the development of ‘New Ayodhya.’
He has been visiting Ayodhya almost every week to ensure that all projects are completed within the specified time and are up to the quality standards.
The elevation in Yogi’s status – after the opening of the Ram temple and the general elections — is expected to change power equations within the BJP too.
The Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, meanwhile, will not have many surprises to offer since the Opposition remains deeply fragmented and differences between the constituents of the INDIA bloc have not been ironed out yet.
The future of the Samajwadi Party (SP), in general, and Akhilesh Yadav, in particular, will be determined in the Lok Sabha elections.
The SP has failed to emerge as a frontrunner in UP politics since 2017, when Akhilesh took over the reins of the party.
If Akhilesh and his party fail to put up a good performance in the general elections, he may face a revolt in the SP ranks.
There is already simmering discontent within the SP over Akhilesh’s inability to deal with leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya whose attacks on Hinduism are already irking upper caste Hindus in the party.
The absence of Mohd Azam Khan from active politics due to his incarceration has left the Muslims in the SP leaderless and Akhilesh, too, has not shown much interest in the problems faced by the community.
Political analysts are of the opinion that if the situation does not change, a large section of the Muslims may shift to the Congress that is seen as a major challenger to the BJP at the national level.
The BSP, on the other hand, remains in a permanent state of confusion about its stand on the general elections.
Mayawati’s party is undecided about joining an alliance and its cadres are also in a state of confusion. The party, which has already hit rock bottom in recent polls, is yet to draw up a strategy for the general elections.
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