Riding high on Narendra Modi’s mania the Bharatiya Janata party will try to regain the lost glory in Awadh region through a rally in Bahraich on Friday - which is again slated to be a complete sell out like the previous rallies in Kanpur and Jhansi.
Apt to the local political conditions that is dominated by backward caste the rally venue has been named as Raja Suheldev - a backward caste king and a revered name of this region who fought the dominance of Muslim rulers including Md Ghazni in 11th century.
But why this rally is being organized in Bahraich not in Faizabad - heart of Awadh regionIJ The question is potent and the party has its justification too. The party till date has stayed away from Ram mandir issue and has projected Narendra Modi as a man who had ushered in development in Gujarat. As the area is craving for development the party decided to start its election campaign in Awadh region from lesse known Bahraich.
The Awadh region that comprises Faizabad and Ayodhya has 16 lok Sabha seats including that of lucknow. In last 2009 elections Congress got the bulk of seats winning nine of them including that of Faizabad, Barabanki, Bahiarch, Amethi and Rae Bareli. The Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party had won three each which BJP had won just one - that too lucknow’s seats.
While in the 2012 Assembly elections out of the 82 seats, BJP had won just around 10 seats. The backwards and upper castes of this region had one time supported BJP but deserted party in last two elections. The party had won all the seats barring Ambedkar Nagar one time or the other but this support slowly waned. Fire brand BJP leader Vinay Katiyar contested elections from Faizabad, lakhimpur, Rae Bareli and even from Ambedkar Nagar in last four elections but lost all of them. Five time legislator from Faizabad laloo Singh contested lok Sabha election in 2009 but lost to Congress’ Nirmal Khatri - who was later made Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president. Singh lost so much ground after last lok Sabha elections that he even lost assembly election in 2002.
Former MP Purnima Verma lost last lok Sabha election from Hardoi while former legislator Ram Naresh Rawat unsuccessfully contested from Barabanki. The party even tried new faces from Mohanlalganj, Unnao and lakhimpur - but all of them lost the elections. In this scenario Narendra Modi’s rally in Bahraich has revived a hope for BJP in Awadh region. They feel that the party would be able to win at least 8 seats from this including that of Faizabad. Chief of Shri ram janmabhoomi Nyas Mahant Nritya Gopal Das said that Modi will come to Ayodhay to seek blessings of Sants before lok Sabha election and the day he does that Awadh region will be in BJP’s pocket.
Besides the unprecedented crowd the rally will also witness unparallel security. After the Patna serial blast, security forces are not taking any chances. No person attending the rally would be allowed to enter the venue without frisking. A DSP rank officer from Gujarat has been campingthere for the past couple of days, an Inspector General of Police (IG) and a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) level officers camping in Bahraich.