Did You Know? Ayodhya Had Embraced Saffron Long Before BJP’s Rule

In the last 50 years, Jan Sangh and BJP won the seat nine times while the Congress won just three.

Orange flags flutter across Ayodhya on the eve of the day that changed the course of history. The ‘temple town’ had embraced saffron much before Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) came to power.

Exactly 50 years ago, Ayodhya had elected B Kishore, a candidate of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, which has been the political arm of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the precursor to the BJP.

The Babri mosque was destroyed on 6 December 1992, leading to riots and claiming the lives of at least 2,000 people. Twenty-five years after its demolition, the Supreme Court heard the long due Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute on 5 December.

As per a report in The New Indian Express, the members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) are all set to mark 6 December as Shaurya Diwas, even decorating their office with saffron flags and banners.

But, did you know that Ayodhya had donned saffron long before the BJP’s lotus blossomed there?

Over the past half a century, the Jan Sangh and the BJP have won the Ayodhya seat nine times, the Congress has won it three times, while the Janata dal and the Samajwadi Party have won the seat only once each.

After its formation, the Jan Sangh gradually spread itself throughout Uttar Pradesh, including Ayodhya. In the initial days, members of the Jan Sangh were ordinary workers, most of whom came from middle-class families.

Shyam Nandan Singh, Leader, BJP

Political History

In the year 1967, Bharatiya Jana Sangh’s (BJS) candidate Kishore had defeated an independent candidate B Singh. In 1969, Congress marked its presence the town as their candidate defeated Ram Narain Tripathi, Bharatiya Kranti Dal’s (BKD) candidate.

It was in 1991 that BJP’s Lallu Singh won the seat of the temple town and he retained it in 1993,1996, 2002 and 2007. Singh then got elected to Lok Sabha from Faizad.

BJP’s Political Dividends From The Ram Movement

It is evident that the Ram movement helped the saffron party BJP to tighten its hold over Ayodhya. There was a time when people referred to Ayodhya as BJP’s ‘gadh’. According to an Outlook report, the then Uttar Pradesh’s BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi had referred to the Ram Rath Yatra as a political-religious march.

The purpose of the Ram rath yatra, a political-religious march from September to October 1990, organised by the BJP, was to support the agitation of the VHP and its affiliates to erect a Ram temple at the disputed site.

Rakesh Tripathi

It was only in 2012 that the BJP lost its hold over the temple town as Samajwadi Party’s Tej Narayan Pandey defeated their candidate Lallu Singh. However, the saffron party reclaimed the crown again in 2017. Tej Narayan Pandey was defeated by Ved Prakash Gupta by a very small margin.

Since 2017, the BJP has maintained its grip over Ayodhya. The first mayor of the town was from BJP after its municipal corporation came into existence following a cabinet decision within days of Yogi Adityanath assuming the office of chief minister in March.

(With inputs from PTI, The New Indian Express and Outlook.)

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