Mathuras Krishna Janmabhoomi, the election protagonist in UP?

With
Ayodhya’s Ram Janmabhoomi being among the defining issues of the previous elections
in Uttar Pradesh, much of the spotlight has been shifted to the Krishna Janmabhoomi
in Mathura, which goes to polls in the first of the seven phases on Thursday.

The BJP has pitched
a grand temple for Lord Ram at Ayodhya and was rewarded with sweeping wins in
Uttar Pradesh in the 2017 assembly polls and the 2019 General elections. But the
foundation stone ceremony in August, 2020 brought a major election issue – that
has dominated political discourse for decades – to a close.

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In December
last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the renovated Kashi
Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi – his Lok Sabha constituency.

Now, the
focus shifts on Mathura. Addressing a rally in December, Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath said work along the lines of Ayodhya and Kashi will be undertaken at
Mathura and Vrindavan.

While new temples
will help attract Hindu voters for the BJP, consolidating a voter base in
Mathura will also help weaken its primary opposition – the Samajwadi Party.

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Yadavs form
around 10% of the 24-crore population in the state and are generally considered
SP supporters. They also believe themselves to be descendants of Lord Krishna, thus
making Mathura a key electoral battleground as the BJP can both strengthen its
Hindu voter base as well as woo the Yadavs from the SP.

But it may
not all be plain sailing for the saffron party. The panchayat polls last year
indicated a change in wind, with the BJP losing out in both Mathura and Ayodhya
– where the temple agenda has been at the forefront.

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In Mathura,
the BJP won only eight of 33 seats, with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) winning
the highest – 13. In Ayodhya, the SP won 24 out of 40 seats, compared to just
six that the BJP won.

Also in the
SP’s favour is their alliance with the RLD, which is expected to expand the party’s
outreach to the OBC community.

The BJP has
fielded sitting MLA Shrikant Sharma from Mathura, who won in the 2017 elections
against Congress contestant Pradeep Mathur – who had won three consecutive terms
from the seat. Sharma, who is the Minister of Power in the Yogi Adityanath
cabinet and won by a margin of 1,01,161 votes or 39.975.

The SP have
fielded Devendra Agrawal, who contested from the Sadabad seat in 2017 and came
third after Anil Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the BJP’s Pritee
Chaudhary.

Mathura is
among the 58 constituencies in 11 districts that will go to polls in the first
phase on Thursday. Results will be declared on March 10.