New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh’s grand alliance or mahagathbandhan leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati will today face off in a place close to Ayodhya, the temple town part of the Lok Sabha seat that has been the centre of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.
This is the first time since coming to power in 2014 that PM Modi would visit the area – a move that’s expected to fuel the claims of right-wing groups and allies like the Shiv Sena that the BJP uses the temple issue to draw votes.
PM Modi’s rally is scheduled at noon in the Maya Bazaar – just 25 km from the site of disputed site of the 16th-century mosque in Ayodhya that was razed in 1992 by Hindu activists who believe that it stood on the site of a temple that marked the birthplace of the Lord Ram.
Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati are holding their joint rally at Ram Snehi Ghat, a location that is on the border of Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki and Ayodhya districts and 70 km from the temple town.
