LORD ON THE BALLOT

The BJP has its task cut out in the Hindi heartland: raise its tally in Uttar Pradesh, while maintaining its score in other states. The Ram Temple campaign could well help the party pull it off

- SHARAT PRADHAN

Modi ki Guarantee-Ram Lalla Darshan Yojana.

The promise, displayed on giant hoardings, is what welcomes you to Raipur as you exit the airport. Even those who live in the hinterlands of Chhattisgarh have been assured of a darshan at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya if Prime Minister Narendra Modi retains power after the Lok Sabha polls.

Sure enough, the grand new Ram Temple has become the focal point of the BJP's campaign in heartland states-Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Together, these states have 214 of 543 Lok Sabha seats, and Modi hopes they will power him to victory for a third consecutive time. The BJP has, indeed, left no stone unturned to woo south India-the Ram idol in Ayodhya was sculpted in stone by a Mysuru artist-but the party continues to depend heavily on support from the Hindi heartland.

Barring Uttar Pradesh, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won almost all the seats in all these states in 2019. So the BJP has its task cut out: raise its UP tally while maintaining the high numbers in all other states.

The party won 62 seats in UP in 2019, down from 71 in 2014. Its ally Apna Dal won two seats in 2019. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which drew a blank in 2014 and won 10 seats in 2019 (in a brief alliance with the Samajwadi Party), has become so dormant that even its supporters share the common perception that party chief Mayawati has yielded to the BJP. With senior BSP leaders having joined other parties, the 10 seats are up for grabs. The SP, which won only five seats in 2019, is out to regain its lost domain, while the Congress is struggling to look beyond Raebareli, the lone seat won by party leader Sonia Gandhi. With Sonia having moved to the Rajya Sabha because of her ill health, and Rahul Gandhi having been defeated in Amethi in 2019, the Congress's prospects remain bleak.