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Yogi Adityanath as CM: Doomsday for Uttar Pradesh

By Humra Quraishi. Dated: 3/22/2017 10:51:16 PM

Doomsday for the state of Uttar Pradesh with the appointment of Yogi Adityanath as chief minister. Well, that was my first spontaneous reaction as soon as that news had trickled in. And this reaction is getting compounded as disasters are getting unfolded. Within the very first two days of his appointment hundreds are sitting jobless as slaughter houses and meat-shops have been shut or sealed in several towns of Uttar Pradesh - Allahabad, Lakhimpur Khiri, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Ghaziabad. Together with this, his dictatorship style of functioning seems more than writ large with the arrest of a Muslim man from Ghazipur because of an "objectionable picture" he had posted. Mind you, even before the police could take action, Yogi Adityanath's private brigade of goons - the Hindu Yuva Sena -hounded that Muslim man.
No big mystery how Yogi Adityanath has been winning election after election in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. And though there are criminal cases against him yet he has been placed up there. Not a squeak in terms of revolt or outcry against this man's appointment. After all, he has raised this so called Hindu Yuva Sena, which I'm told terrorizes the local population to such an extent that nobody dare veto their dictates and commands. It would be naïve to expect any of the Muslims rebelling against this man's Hindutva agenda, as a sense of fear prevails. It's downright silly for political commentators to come up with those typical utterances -See, how Muslims are doing a this or that for Yogi Adityanath! Do these hapless Muslims have a choice? Wouldn't they get gunned down and their children kidnapped if not killed if they dare snub Yogi Adityanath and his men?
The Muslim minority population has every reason to sit in apprehension and fear. Hindutva agenda has been unleashed on them. This time with no facades and camouflages but in that stark brutal way. If you have not heard Yogi Adiyanath's interviews and speeches then do so. With that you will realize what would unfold…what will become of Uttar Pradesh. In fact, in one of his recent interviews this Hindutva man hasn't even spared the Taj Mahal. It wouldn't be amiss to say that this monumental structure needs as much protection from his goon brigade as it does from the so called ISIS threats.
And as I have been stating, there wouldn't be any major rioting or pogrom in any of the towns or cities of the Uttar Pradesh but every effort will be on to kill and dent the very identity of the hapless Muslim population of the State.
Why there wouldn't be any major rioting or pogroms? Because that would rob the Right-Wing government the opportunity to deceive with these fraudulent one-liners: See, how peacefully and safely these Muslims are living under our governance! We are not killing these creatures! Not one slaughtered! We are sparing each one of them! See, how well we're implementing 'sab ka saath, sab ka vikas'!
The truth is that Hindutva tactics will now get implemented in a well- planned way. And the very first move will be to make more and more Muslims jobless. Cripple them financially. In fact, closure of these slaughter houses and meat shops has already affected hundreds of Muslim families. The next move will be to hit the tannery strongholds of Kanpur. After the economic blows, what will follow is the very systematic killing of the very identity of the Muslim community. Questions will be raised on what they read, what they wear, what they eat, what they talk, what names they give their children, what masjids they go to offer namaaz!
I wonder how will Muslims survive in Uttar Pradesh. It will be tough …very tough for them to live with Hindutva agenda unleashed on them with full force. They will be stripped on their very identity or forced to live as refugees in their own lands. The rebellious ones will be jailed if not killed in encounters.
In fact, under the Hindutva dictates, even the dead forms of Muslims will not be spared. I'm writing this in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's electioneering speeches in Uttar Pradesh, where he dragged along focus on qabaristans/Muslim graveyards, and coupled with this Yogi Adityanath's comments on Waqf lands …how he will look into those properties! Not to be overlooked the fact that a majority of Muslim graveyards are situated on Waqf lands. With the political mafia eying those lands there is ample fear that even the dead will be unsettled; their remains pulled and pushed out from the graves to pave way for commercial complexes or Hindutva colonies to come up on those lands.
One doesn't have to dwell too much on Yogi Adityanath's hatred for the Muslims. It comes across stark in each one of his comments oozing with communal crudity! In fact, in one of his utterances this man had even gone to extent of talking of rapes on dead Muslim women. Till now one had heard of goondas threatening to rape only alive forms but in these fascist times even the dead are not spared.
And during one of his electioneering speeches, Yogi Adityanath had even commented that under the Samajwadi rule Uttar Pradesh will become another Kashmir! Correct me if I'm wrong, whatever wrongs the Samajwadis left unfinished will now be executed, crimes will be committed with that undying focus on the minority population.
An extremely sad day for the State of Uttar Pradesh and for the people of Uttar Pradesh. They have been conned by the bogus claims of development. Tell me how can development take place when the State begins to terrorize a section of the population? T0pell me how can there be progress if twenty percent of the population is made to sit humiliated and under a siege of sorts?
(Humra Quraishi is a freelance columnist based in Delhi and is currently a visiting Professor in the Academy of Third World Studies in Jamia Millia University).