Amid the blue hue that has swept UP, the humiliating defeat of BJP and its absolute marginalisation in the state has been totally overlooked.
In the three Assembly by-polls, the share of votes in Muradnagar, Colonelganj and Bilgram, the party has been extraordinary low. It could get just 1.35%, 3% and 5% votes in the elections, the results for which were announced two days back. The BSP won all the three constituences, as also the two Lok Sabha seats.
Surprisingly, the Lotus has wilted in the state where it emerged in the mid-80s pitting Hindus and Muslims against each other. And today it seems both Hindus and Muslims have forgotten this party in India's most populous state.This is shocking for the party that it got such a low vote shate. And it has happened barely two decades after the Ram Mandir movement threw the country into communal flames. Clearly the electorate no longer considers BJP as a political option.
It was this state where the BJP had got 57 seats out of 85 at the height of Babri Masjid-Ram Mandir movement in 1989. And exactly twenty years after that, VP Singh' Mandal card has killed the BJP's genie.
It is now crystal clear that even the Brahmins have deserted the BJP. The OBCs were once a strong votebank and also section of Dalits. But that is an old story. Today, it's a reality that BJP has lost Uttar Pradesh.Though it is also an irony that the party has reached this state at a time when it is believed the architect of Ayodhya movement, LK Advani has become politically 'touch-able' and hopes to become Prime Minister of India.
