As Ram bhakt, the BJP wants Modi to “rule Delhi throne.”
Lucknow: By releasing a campaign film featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi characterizing himself as a “Ram bhakt” who will eventually “rule the Delhi throne,” the BJP on Monday ignited a new, spiraling Hindutva narrative.
The 44-second clip has Modi in religious garb worshiping at the recently opened Ram temple in Ayodhya while the song “Tay kar lo ab satya sanatan ki chhaya ho shashan par, Ram bhakt hi raj karega Dilli ke singhasan par” plays in the background.
The song continues: “Ram jinhone kiye pratishthit Awadhpuri ke aasan par, Ram bhakt hi raj karega Dilli ke singhasan par,” giving Modi credit for consecrating Ram Lalla.
The incident coincides with the third round of the Lok Sabha election contest, which is being fought between the BJP and a resolute SP-Congress alliance in Uttar Pradesh. According to BJP officials, the saffron party intended to intensify the excitement around the recent dedication of the Ram temple, a move that may be well-received by voters in the Awadh area and beyond.
Experts noted that the appeal of the Ram temple has been dwindling as a result of Modi’s personal attacks on the opposition, particularly the Congress and the SP, for first impeding the construction of the temple and then declining an invitation to attend the consecration ceremony in order to gain support from the party’s “vote bank.”
Recalling the year 1991, when Mulayam Singh Yadav, the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and leader of the SP, ordered fire on kar sevaks, the BJP has also been attacking the SP on a regular basis. This was further highlighted on Sunday when Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the candidates running for the Lok Sabha in 2024 were those who “ordered firing at Ram bhakts” and those who saw the temple built.
Senior BJP officials said that the party undoubtedly aimed to challenge the opposition while enhancing its campaign around the Ram Temple consecration, which took place just before the Lok Sabha elections began.
Political analysts predicted that the BJP would escalate the situation while pressuring the opposition to retract an electoral platform that purportedly represented the Grand Old Party’s attempt to pacify the community.
