In UP, Ram temple pitch, ‘saving Constitution’ dominate campaign vocabulary
With eight out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh going to polls on April 26 in the second phase of general elections, including Aligarh, Amroha, Ghaziabad, Baghpat, Bulandshahar, Meerut, Gautam Buddha Nagar and Mathura, the electoral campaign in India’s politics most crucial State peaked with top leaders leaving no stone unturned in reaching out to voters with contentious, polarizing and long-standing issues taking center stage in the political landscape. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, both of whom led the ruling BJP campaign in phase two, invoked issues of the Opposition declining the Ram temple invitation and appeasement politics of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Of the eight seats going for polls, the BJP in 2019 emerged victorious in seven, namely Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Mathura and Gautam Buddha Nagar, with the lone seat of Amroha won by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Kunwar Danish Ali, who is now a Congress candidate from the same seat. The campaign in Amroha witnessed rallies by Mr. Modi and a joint rally by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and SP president Akhilesh Yadav. Mr. Modi, while campaigning in Amroha, claimed that the sitting MP and Congress nominee Mr. Ali had problems in chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai. “Will be a person who cannot accept Bharat Mata ki jai, look good in the Indian Parliament? Should such a person be allowed entry into the Indian Parliament?” he asked voters.
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