LUCKNOW: By choosing Azamgarh , once described by his own party as ‘Atankgarh’ (terror’s home), for launching a slew of projects, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a message that despite being an Opposition citadel, it could never get a development push in the past and how BJP was serious about giving it an image makeover.The selection of Azamgarh for unofficially launching the campaign for 2019 Lok Sabha polls is significant because the BJP has won the seat only once in the past — in 2009 — and that too more because of the personal clout of its candidate Ramkant Yadav than the saffron party’s position in the constituency.However, when SP patriarch contested from the constituency in 2014, Ramakant tasted defeat despite contesting well. Even in 2017 state elections, BJP could win just one out of 10 seats while SP and BSP shared five and four seat, respectively. Historically, Azamgarh was a Congress’s citadel.The party won the first five polls on the trot from here till 1977, when Ram Naresh Yadav broke the spell in the post-emergency elections.Thereafter, BSP it won for the first time in 1989 and SP in 1996.Since then it has been changing hands between the two parties, barring 2009. And in case of an alliance between the SP and the BSP in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it will again become a strong fortress of the Opposition.By laying the foundation stone of Purvanchal Expressway in Azamgarh, Modi reminded the voters that they kept sending Opposition leaders to parliament but none of them reciprocated by bringing development to the district.The expressway is a symbol of development that he wanted to showcase to the people of Azamgarh.Also, the district dominated by the wealthy Muslims, who have migrated to Mumbai and Middle East, and Yadavs. Both are not BJP voters. Now, in a bid to break the strong Muslim-Yadav combination in Azamgarh, the PM repeatedly mentioned in his speech the triple talaq bill and how Congress and SP were stalling the NDA’s government move to bring in a bill to make it a criminal offence to provide relief to Muslim women. ,but the Congress and the SP were opposing it, he attacked.Similarly, in order to woo the OBCs, he counted the Central government’s schemes for the welfare of wavers . Besides, after several youths from the district were apprehended for their links with terror outfits like Indian Mujahideen (IM) HuJI, the BJP have been calling it ‘Atankgarh’. “By choosing Azamgarh for development push, the party now wants to show its commitment to spruce up the image of the district,” says a political analyst.

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