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'The 2024 general elections proved that UP is not Gujarat.'
If there is one defeat that the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra D Modi will not forget for a long time it is the defeat of BJP candidate Lallu Singh from Faizabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya falls within the Faizabad parliamentary constituency and it was on January 22, 2024, that Modi consecrated the Ram temple.
It was assumed that the BJP candidate would win the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency handsomely. Democracy is all about surprises and Samajwadi Party candidate Awadhesh Prasad proved it.
He won the Faizabad seat by defeating Lallu Singh by a margin of 54,567 votes.
Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav had given Awadesh Prasad, who is a Dalit, the ticket to contest the Lok Sabha election in Faizabad even though the seat was not a reserved one, proving his political acumen as he understood the undercurrent of anger in the Dalit community against the BJP.
"I was 101 percent sure I will win from Ayodhya and defeat the BJP. I had the blessings of Prabhu Shri Ram, Lord Hanuman and Saryu Ma," Awadhesh Prasad tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com on a visit to Mumbai over the weekend.
What is the reason for your visit to Mumbai?
I have come with my party colleagues who were elected to Parliament from Uttar Pradesh.
Our Mumbai Samajwadi Party leader, Abu Asim Azmi, invited us.
The main reason was to pay homage at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's sthal (the Chaitya Bhoomi), he gave us the Constitution of India.
Besides this, Mumbai holds significance in the history of our freedom movement as Mahatma Gandhi stayed for quite some time in this city during the freedom struggle.
We want to pay homage at August Kranti Maidan, a historic place from where the Quit India movement was launched resulting in the departure of the British from India.
We were to visit the Siddhivinayak Mandir and the Mahim Dargah too.
Did the slogan 'Samvidhan khatre mein hai (Constitution is in danger)' give the Samajwadi Party a spectacular victory against the BJP in UP? Is that the reason you came to pay homage at Chaitya Bhoomi in Mumbai?
This trip was planned by our party leader, Akhilesh Yadav, who suggested that we must go to Mumbai and pay homage to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.
We are seeing that there is a different level of energy in Samajwadi Party workers here. They are very confident that they will do very well in the upcoming elections.
Do you mean the by-elections to the 10 assembly seats to be held in UP?
We will win all the seats in the assembly bye-elections.
Why do you think the BJP's election graph is going downwards?
The BJP is not focussed on issues that are bothering the public.
Inflation is a big issue for the common man but the BJP is not bothered to address that issue.
The youth of our nation are jewels of this country but the BJP is not bothered about their future.
Exam papers are getting leaked and it shows that there is little attention paid by the BJP government.
This shows their attitude and intentions about what they think about the youngsters' future.
Agniveer is another example of their wrong policies. The BJP has insulted the Indian Army by bringing in Agniveer. How can they tell youngsters to leave the army after working for four years? This is not right. This is an insult to that young army recruit.
And what does the BJP do to tackle the real issues of life? Hindu-Muslim politics or masjid-temple politics.
In Uttar Pradesh, stray animals are destroying farms in every district and the BJP is doing nothing about it.
More than 5,000 farmers have been killed by these stray animals but no one speaks about such issues from the BJP.
5,000 farmers? That is a huge number.
Yes, more than 5,000 farmers. I raised this issue in the UP assembly when I was MLA.
Even our leader Akhilesh Yadav raised this issue but the BJP government is not taking any action to save the lives of farmers.
The Yogi Adityanath government has ordered all restuarants and street vendors to display their names prominently during the kanwariya yatra. What is your opinion on this?
The BJP has a communal agenda to rule the country. India is not a country of one religion alone but of various religions.
Every community member contributed for the freedom of India from the British. This country belongs to all Indians and every Indian must understand this fact.
When you got a ticket from Faizabad and that too just three months after the consecration of the Shri Ram temple at Ayodhya, did you feel that you were fighting a lost battle against the BJP?
I was 101 percent sure I will win from Ayodhya and defeat the BJP.
I had the blessings of Prabhu Shri Ram, Lord Hanuman and Saryu Ma. Add the blessings of my voters of Faizabad and the guidance of my leader, Akhilesh Yadav.
What surprises everyone is that the SP defeated BJP in Ayodhya after the construction of the Ram Mandir?
Ram Mandir was not constructed. It was a half constructed Ram Mandir. The work is still going on.
All Hindu saints objected to the pran pratishta programmme but Prime Minister Modi did not heed anyone.
He was only looking at the 2024 general elections. Prime Minister Modi ne jaldbazi kar di Ram Mandir bananey mein (Modi built the Ram temple in haste).
Everyone knows it will take another two years for the completion of the Ram temple.
Akhilesh Yadav didn't go for the pran pratishtha. Your party MLAs too rebelled before the Rajya Sabha elections over this issue. And yet you won the Faizabad seat.
I was not invited for the Ram temple consecration. I am born in Ayodhya and by virtue of my birth I am entitled to say I am a real Ram bhakt.
My grandfather's name was Ram Naval, my father's name was Dukhi Ram, my brother's name was Ram Awadh and Ram is in our blood. But the BJP did not invite me for the January 22 event.
The BJP says its candidate was ahead of you by 4,000 votes in Ayodhya city, but you were ahead in other parts of the Faizabad constituency, which enabled you to defeat the BJP nominee by 54,567 votes.
Please take into account the Ayodhya rural seat too where I was leading the BJP candidate. I got 70 to 80 percent more votes than the BJP candidate over there.
In Ayodhya city somehow I did not get much time to campaign but now all sadhus and sants have come out in my support in Ayodhya city.
If you are talking of a 4,000 vote lead, it is not a big thing because if you see from January 22 right from the prime minister and even the President visited Ayodhya.
Though she did not campaign for the BJP, it was not right on her part to visit Ayodhya amidst elections which were so close.
I was fighting against the entire BJP machinery because all the chief ministers from different states visited Ayodhya to ensure I was defeated.
All the government machinery was working to influence the Faizabad election against me but the people of Faizabad gave a fitting reply to the BJP.
And if you take all the parliamentary seats near Ayodhya like Sultanpur, Barabanki and Amethi, the BJP lost all of them.
The BJP thought UP had become Gujarat and their Hindutva politics was permanent.
The 2024 general elections proved to them that UP is not Gujarat. Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb defeated the BJP's Hindutva in UP.
Why did no one predict the SP's win in UP with such huge numbers?
It is a tragedy of India that the media has stopped doing the role of the fourth estate.
The media became Modi media before the 2024 general elections. It is now that they are coming back to track slowly. I was aware that I would have won.
Even if Prime Minister Modi had contested from Ayodhya (Faizabad), he would have lost against me.
Some political analysts say the SP win was because Dalit voters shifted their allegiance to the SP and this allegiance is not permanent as they can always go back to the BJP any time. Do you feel so?
The BJP has done nothing for Dalits. They are not even filling quota seats in jobs for Dalits. The BJP has finished reservation for Dalits.
Where have they finished it? Reservation exists even today, isn't it?
The BJP has kept reservation only on paper for Dalits.
I will give you one example: There is no vice-chancellor of any university who is a Dalit (external link
The BJP is giving government jobs through outsourcing to private companies. This ensures that Dalits do not get their quota jobs in the government sector.
The private sector is gobbling up jobs in the government sector which is indirectly killing reservations.
Do Dalits on the ground understand this?
Reservation is our fundamental right. Dalits have to be given reservation. There is no escape from this fact.
But Mr Modi said during the election campaign that if the SP won it would give reservations to Muslims.
That was a very wrong statement from Prime Minister Modi. He should have kept the dignity of his post and not made such comments during the elections.
He has washed the feet of Dalits.
This was all dikhawa (show). It was a deceptive move (for votes).
Why have Dalits shunned Mayawati?
It is better you put this question to Behen Mayawati and not me.
Some say Ayodhya has lost its sheen after the BJP lost the Faizabad election. Do you feel so?
Only communal people think this way. All over India I go, I am being welcomed.
What future do you see for the BJP in UP?
The BJP will be wiped out in UP. Akhilesh Yadav will form a very strong and stable government.
Will Yogiji stay on as UP chief minister till the 2027 assembly election?
You better ask a jyotishi (astrologer) about his future. I won't comment on his future.
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com