If Ayodhya was showered with love and admiration in the months since the opening of the Ram temple, it is now drowning in vitriol directed at it on social media by dismayed Right-wingers after the electoral drubbing the BJP faced not only in Ayodhya region but also in Faizabad, the Lok Sabha constituency that is home to the temple.

Right-wingers have labelled Ayodhya residents as traitors for not voting for the the saffron party, which claimed credit for construction of the temple and had proclaimed itself as ‘Ram ko laane waale’. Irate Hindutva supporters are pressing for economic boycott of the town, which has witnessed a footfall of 1-1.5 lakh visitors daily since the temple was opened in January. Ayodhya is believed to have welcomed close to 2.03 crore tourists in 2022. Infrastructure development by the Yogi Adityanath government including rail, road and air connectivity before the temple was ready was cited as one of the reasons.