With Yogi Adityanath, BJP seems to be seeking majority consolidation ahead of Lok Sabha polls

LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah chose saffron hardliner Yogi Adityanath to be the chief minister of UP in a defiant assertion of their Hindutva nationalist credentials midway through the term of the NDA regime at the Centre.

The controversial five-term MP from Gorakhpur is known for his polarising rhetoric and belongs to the extreme right, or the “fringe” that many warned Modi about and wanted shunned. By picking Adityanath to govern India’s largest state, Modi and Shah have sent across a clear message that they will be bound by neither the norms of “politics as usual” nor the requirements of political correctness.

Coming after the “ surgical strike ” and demonetisation , the appointment of Yogi, an unabashed leader of the Ramjanmabhoomi movement, can be termed as the third “disruptive move” of the saffron regime, and is part of the populist nationalism BJP seems to be crafting around the theme of Hindutva.


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Observers promptly saw it as an attempt to consolidate Hindus ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Hindutva themes were part of BJP’s successful poll pitch and in fact, Modi himself was accused of polarising the electorate in the run up to the UP polls when he gave the “shamshan versus kabristan” analogy to argue that the SP government discriminated among communities. Shah was also accused of seeking to communalise the voters. BJP chief Amit Shah had harped on the promise to shut down mechanised abattoirs and to set up anti-Romeo squads: shorthand for a crackdown on “love jihad“.

But it was part of the larger mix which sought to tap into secular concerns over backwardness, unemployment, alleged collapse of law and order and farm distress besides the state’s partisanship towards certain groups. The contentious decision on Saturday brings Hindutva to the fore overshadowing the development agenda and will raise fears of the party pedalling away from its “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas” commitment.

Yogi acknowledged the concern when talking to reporters after his election as the chief of the BJP parliamentary party and said, “It is our duty to take UP to new heights of development. I believe in Modiji’s ideology of ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’.”

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He also said he will not tolerate hooliganism in the name of celebrations. The selection will, no doubt, go down extremely well with the party’s core base.

Yogi was in huge demand across the state during the party’s campaign: a refutation of the charge of his detractors in BJP that his appeal is restricted to “7-8 districts of eastern UP”.

According to top party sources, leadership factored in the criticism Yogi’s appointment is set to generate. It is, however, confident that the resentment in certain quarters will be more than compensated by the goodwill Yogi, with his tough persona, is expected to generate by setting right the “law and order” situation and by ensuring that bureaucracy cooperates in speeding up delivery: something of crucial importance for party’s aim to retain a majority of the 73 Lok Sabha seats it bagged in 2014.