Yogi faces challenges and opportunities in UP

By Anser Kidwai. Dated: 3/25/2017 10:34:23 AM

After years of wandering in political wilderness, UP is back on the rails with the BJP getting a massive mandate in the recent elections. This marks the BJP's return to power in the state after its power-famine of 15 years and that too with a sea of difference. This is also a moment truth for the new chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Yogi Adityanath has been known for his forthright views on issues like "ghar wapasi, love jihad, gau raksha". The far right in the seat of governance at the Centre as well as in the state, the 44 year-old Yogi is indeed the new dispensation's suitable boy. He has already said a lot of things to make himself a controversial figure expressing views which are apt to sound odd to the forward looking and secular ears.
Whatever be the cause or effect, the BJP leadership on its part has gone about choosing Yogi Adityanath as chief minister without prevarication or alibi and, as such, both the architect of the electoral victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the party chief, Amit Shah, deserve encomiums (aberrations like Manipur and Goa notwithstanding). Even if Yogi Adityanath has so far been seen as a maverick, he has lost no time in wholeheartedly endorsing Mr Modi's "sabka sath sabka vikas" mantra. Yet, his conduct and performance in his new role will be under close watch. On both the personal and political planes, Yogi has indeed many promises to keep.
However, with power comes responsibility, and Yogi can be credited to have made an unexceptionable start going by the his speech in the Lok Sabha. Even so, he is undeniably a man of strong convictions and as such it will be naive to expect him to completely cut himself of from his past. The wheel has tuned full circle and thus the political pundits too would be well-advised not to rush to any immediate conclusions while doing their calculations for the future. The best one can expect in the present day scenario is to take a balanced view realizing that the new ruling dispensation is a determined and committed lot leaving little room for vacillation of ifs or buts. The UP government has ordered on immediate closure of illegal abattoirs and putting a stop to cow smuggling. In line with the promise to keep a strict watch on the law and order situation they are also soon be setting up anti-Romeo squads in the districts (one can only hope that this will not provide an excuse to let loose vigilante groups). Many butcher shop have been burnt and young couples harassed.
Yogi has two deputy chief ministers to help him but undoubtedly he will be the man holding the overall sway. The construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is of course a top priority but perhaps do it without ruffling unnecessary feathers. He has already sanctioned certain funds for it as well as for the construction of Ramayana museum in Ayodhya. All of it is as it should be so far, but the coming months will be worth watching.
The BJP's electoral sweep has invested it with the necessary powder-keg to meet the challenges in 2019. It has come to power riding on the crest of polarization wave, essentially. For, the development plank took a back-seat in the electioneering which was most bitterly conducted, besides been most abusive too. Polarization on communal lines had paid a rich dividend in the parliamentary elections in UP in 2014 as well, and thus there is no reason that this ultimate weapon will not be used next time too. Communal loyalty is evidently much stronger and much more lethal than the caste loyalty else Mayawati's BSP would not have faced such a humiliating decimation in these polls: a carefully re-engineered caste structure is a more apt answer in the present day context than the theorizing on annihilation of castes.
In the 46-member UP ministry different castes have been fairly represented-eight Brahmins, seven Thakurs, 17 OBCs and MBCs apart from others. The defectors from other parties too have been accommodated-12 in all-including former BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya and Rita Bahuguna Joshi.
— [IFS]

 

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