Year 2024 will be remembered for religion, political cocktail in UP
Lucknow: The grand inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a spate of temple-mosque disputes, a series of abandoned temple discoveries and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s slogan of “batenge to katenge” (divided we fall).
Does that sum up 2024 for Uttar Pradesh? Yes and no.
Yes, because these developments grabbed attention and helped set the narrative — political or otherwise — not just in the country’s most populous state but beyond as well.
But there was more to the year for the state that witnessed some heart-wrenching tragedies — a deadly stampede in Hathras claimed 121 lives in July and 10 infants were charred to death in a fire in Jhansi medical college’s neonatal ward in November.
On December 8, the Allahabad High Court Justice Shekhar Yadav’s remarks at a Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) event in Prayagraj backing a uniform civil code (UCC) and the “majority” triggered a controversy and criticism from the Opposition. He appeared before the Supreme Court Collegium to explain his remarks.
However, Adityanath and the VHP supported Justice Yadav’s take on the UCC. While Adityanath questioned the critics, VHP chief Alok Kumar said that he wouldn’t be apologetic even if the judge had made the remarks about the majority.
In a jolt to the BJP, a resurgent Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance limited the ruling party to 33 seats in the May-June Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, down from 63 in 2019. This meant that despite a historic third consecutive win for the BJP-led NDA at the Centre, the ruling party would have to deal with a stronger Opposition both inside and outside the Parliament.
The Uttar Pradesh Assembly byelections in November gave the BJP reason to cheer as it won seven of the nine seats that went to polls, including the Muslim-dominated Kundarki and the OBC-Dalit-dominated Katehari. The Kundarki win found a mention in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech after Mahayuti’s impressive victory in the Maharashtra.
