On BJP margins, Maneka Gandhi keeps Ram Temple at bay, woos Muslim vote

She may be the outgoing Lok Sabha’s longest-serving MP, but for Maneka Gandhi, this bid for a ninth term in Parliament is one of her most crucial fights. Pushed to the margins of the BJP, with her son Varun Gandhi denied a ticket, Maneka must win Sultanpur to sustain her political legacy – and that means keeping the minorities, who constitute about 17% of the voters in the constituency which votes on May 25, close.

So, there is no mention of the Ram Temple in her speeches, while that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is kept to the minimum, unlike the campaigns of other BJP candidates. Ayodhya is hardly an hour’s drive from Sultanpur.

“I have not made it (the Ram Temple) an issue here,” Maneka acknowledges, adding that she is talking about her work and promising to do “more and more”. “At the end of the day, people just want their problems to be looked at and want a personal relationship (with their representative). Over the last five years, I have made such personal relationships with visits to every village… There are just local issues here… I work for everybody.”

Referred to as “Matashree” or “Mata ji” by people in the constituency, Maneka had a relatively narrow win from Sultanpur in 2019, by about 14,000 votes against a local influential leader, Chandra Bhadra Singh, fielded by the Samajwadi Party-BSP combine. It was her first contest from Sultanpur, after moving here from Pilibhit, vacating the latter seat for son Varun.

This time, Maneka is facing OBC rivals from both the main fronts. While the Congress-SP candidate is Ram Bhual Nishad – the Nishads number about 2.5 lakh in the seat – the BSP has fielded Uday Raj Verma, a Kurmi.

Apart from OBCs, the big group in the seat are SCs, forming about 21% of the voters. The BSP