The results of the Lok Sabha elections have created a fierce internal conflict within the BJP. Especially in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi constituency, Prime Minister Modi’s votes have decreased this time compared to last time, which has caused great debates. Not only in Varanasi, BJP’s vote bank has collapsed in many places in UP.
The BJP rule that started in 2014 continued in 2019 as well. Therefore, the opposition parties including the Congress were expecting a political change in the 2024 elections. But, defying these expectations, the BJP has come to power for the third time. However, this time BJP is not as happy as last two times. The reason is the decline in voter turnout. It is said that BJP’s collapse in Uttar Pradesh, which was considered to be BJP’s stronghold, is unacceptable.
Just a few days before the elections, a new temple for Lord Rama was built in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. It is also said that this will help BJP’s political mileage. But at the end of the election BJP lost in Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency where Ayodhya was located. In this Samajwadi Party candidate Avdesh Prasad won by defeating the BJP candidate by a margin of about 50 thousand votes.
Similarly, Narendra Modi, who had contested in Varanasi constituency, had won by a margin of just 1.5 lakh votes. Earlier he had won by a margin of 4 lakh votes. Is the decline in these two constituencies the cause of BJP’s internal conflict? If not. Overall, BJP has lost in many places in Uttar Pradesh.
Various development projects like highways, expanded airport, tourism development have been successfully implemented in Varanasi. Everything looked perfect from a distance. But when we got closer, it became clear that the local problems were serious.
In other words, the main reason behind Modi’s vote bank collapse in Varanasi is the Kashi Hi-Tech City project. The BJP government has been trying to acquire land for the Kashi Duar hi-tech city project. There was resistance among the farmers. But the haste shown by the officials to acquire the land near the elections, erupted into protests at the other end. In this protest, the police have kicked farmer leader Santosh Patel with a shoe.
Santosh Patel said, “There was a plan to acquire land from 10 villages to develop Kashi Duar hi-tech city near the airport in Pindara taluk. We as farmers had been protesting against this. The haste shown by the authorities in the run-up to the elections pushed us to protest.
We marched towards Varanasi district headquarters. Our struggles continued day and night. I am one of the leaders involved. But within a few days I was arrested by the police. The police attacked me to withdraw the protest. They trampled with their shoe feet,” he said.
Santosh Patel was released from the police station within 48 hours. However injuries inflicted by the guards and kicking with shoes caused unrest among the farmers. Apart from that, the farmers’ tent erected on the protest ground was dismantled. Their vehicles were stolen. All this further infuriated the peasants.
Pindara, Sewa Puri and Rohania assembly constituencies in Varanasi district are areas dominated by the Patel community. So all the Patel community from this area gathered the panchayat and took a pledge that they will not vote for BJP and they will not ask their friends to vote too.
Thus, the BJP’s vote bank in Varanasi suffered a major decline. Even though Modi became the Prime Minister for the third time, he won by a narrow margin and the BJP did not get a single majority at the national level, which is seen as a big setback for the party.
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