Why Hindu hardliner YOGI is running India's most populous state?

India’s Mr Yogi – The ‘Neo’ Ruler of Hindu Heart

The biggest contribution made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his party in recent weeks is not merely anchoring BJP’s massive victory in Uttar Pradesh provincial polls. The bigger contribution has been in giving the BJP – a next Prime Minister material, a new generation leader.

This may not be an act of selfless exercise, but there is a political risk in it.

Compared to Yogi Adityanath's chauvinistic hard-liner image, Narendra Modi will now appear the sober catalyst of development.

The BJP sprang a surprise when it named a Hindu priest-politician Yogi Adityanath as its chief minister.

In choosing Adityanath — one who presumably follows an ascetic lifestyle based on yoga — party leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only authorized him to anchor BJP's massive victory in Uttar Pradesh but also given Hindu groups a new generation of leadership.

The saffron-clad Adityanath, born Ajay Singh Bisht, is 45-years-old, 22-years younger than Modi himself. Political commentators such as S.K. Dutta believe Adityanath is the new face of the BJP. "Today's elections require a face. Ideologies do not matter much. The BJP has it in Narendra Modi. But the BJP is being visionary in creating another while the Indian opposition and chiefly the Congress party is stuck in the 1970s," said Dutta.

Adityanath is chief priest of the state's famed Gorakhnath (Shiva) temple in Gorakhpur, the region where he wields unquestionable political influence because of his hard-line views on Hindu religion and practice. His political career has been closely linked to the temple that he joined aged 21, renouncing the world to become an ascetic. The head priests of this temple have a history of political involvement since 1921 when its then chief opposed the non-violent method of Mahatma Gandhi and was arrested for instigating people against him.

Adityanath cultivated his constituency well and won the 1998 election aged 26, becoming the country's youngest parliamentarian. He made Gorakhpur a winning constituency for four elections 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014, underlining the unquestionable political sway of the Gorakhnath temple.

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The last two decades, local media have carried several stories about Adityanath's radical views and his brushes with controversy. At least 18 criminal cases were registered against him, including criminal intimidation and rioting. 

In 2005, he was actively part of a re-conversion drive where 1,800 Christians were reportedly converted to Hinduism in the town of Etah in Uttar Pradesh. More than once, he has gone on record urging Hindu youth to avenge the so-called insult of Muslims marrying Hindu women. He is accused of inflammatory speeches which linked him to the 2007 Hindu-Muslim riots in Uttar Pradesh.

Police arrested him once in 2007 on charges of disturbing the peace which led to further unrest in the area. His supporters set fire to several coaches of a Mumbai-bound train. 

Yogi also has lauded U.S. President Donald Trump's radical views on Muslims and said India can emulate such a stance against Muslims to fight terrorism. He has in the past even criticized Mother Teresa and accused her of converting needy Hindus to Christianity. Mohammed Idris Ali, a Muslim leader from West Bengal sees a shrewd strategy at work in making Adityanath the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

"Look at the master card they have played: compared to Adityanath's chauvinistic hard-liner image, Modi will now appear the sober catalyst of development. This suits the BJP's image for Modi," Ali said.

Another Muslim leader Shahnawaz Khan from the Muslim forum Jamaat-I-Islami Hind said Adityanath's ascension ends the ambiguity among some Hindu voters about the pro-Hindu agenda of the BJP. 

For others, the "Adityanath-Modi combination is the ideal synthesis of majority politics and development". Although a hard-liner, Adityanath was never a member of the socio-political group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). This is the radical engine room that runs the BJP government and is the agenda for Hindu nationhood. 

In contrast, Modi was a former RSS volunteer and they backed his political moves.

 

But without a doubt, Hindu hard-liners backed Adityanath to the hilt. RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha told media that Adityanath's selection "was the most appropriate decision".

Many see the decision as an RSS strategy to build up another power center away from Modi who seems to be in complete control of party apparatus. "It is true, there is a balancing act," a party insider said. "Now, we will have another power center in the BJP as Adityanath will control over 300 state legislators and a large number of parliamentarians."

Uttar Pradesh's political prominence in the country is due to its 220 million people, who elect 80 of the Indian parliament's 543 members. In the last national elections in 2014, the BJP won 70 of the 80 parliamentary seats.

But for some leaders like Bhartruhari Mahtab, a parliamentarian from the eastern Indian Odisha state, Adityanath has Modi's backing too. "Modi is trying to ensure his parliamentary election victory in 2019 by creating a strong Hindu leader in Uttar Pradesh".  

 The weakened opposition has only helped consolidate Hindu voters in favor of the BJP and its agenda, said Dutta. "The problem with Indian opposition parties is that they are stuck in the political ideology of the 1970s.

"The opposition parties especially the Congress and left parties in India need to update the political software; they need to refashion their model. When will this happen?" he said. With Adityanath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, "the portents are dangerous for the nation because what is at stake is India's secular system", said Chhotebhai, a Catholic leader in Uttar Pradesh.

Adityanath has a history of anti-minority slogans and "can we expect him to change?", said Chhotebhai, who only uses one name.

"Now that he is in power, just like Modi, he may not say anything [against minorities] but that may not stop others from pursuing discrimination."

Socialist leader B Mahtab says, “We know of their Hindutva agenda, now the fear is fringe elements in other regional parties in India and even elements in the BJP would turn MORE HINDU”. Others seem to agree. This is the (Donald) Trump moment in Indian politics. It is a definite swing towards Hindu fundamentalism. 

However, the more curious part of Yogi Adityanath as UP Chief Minister  is – Yogi is more of a Hindu hardliner than the RSS itself. He was not associated with the Sanghparivar fountainhead but the RSS and the BJP leadership – despite reservations – even in the past could not ignore him.

No wonder, often there have been occasions when Yogi has confronted the BJP and the RSS and often left top Hindu leaders red-faced.

This is making many suspect – who of the two – a politician Narendra Modi or a socio-religious organization RSS – actually backed Yogi Adityanath for the coveted post. Notably, Yogi personally has not been a RSS leader – unlike Prime Minister Modi.

His selection as the new UP Chief Minister was finally given out as “the choice of the elected legislators of UP”.

History pages are full of mortal men and women anointed with immortality. In days to come, Yogi Adityanath certainly has all the potentials to enter into such pages.

In the end, it is not without good reason; one can say that Yogi Adityanath can be easily titled the ‘Hindu Hridaysamrat (Ruler of a Hindu heart)’. The contemporary setting when Facebook is fast becoming a bore thing and the new generation shifting speedily from Whatsapp to e-shopping zone; Yogi will be the neo-hero –if at all in two-five years time span from now Modi fails to create the excitement.

There’s no denying that Yogi is the chief minister of India’s most populous state – which sends 80 lawmakers to the Lower House and 31 to the Upper House of Indian Parliament. No political entity worth his salt hence including Narendra Modi himself can afford to ignore Yogi.

A. C. Michael, another Christian leader based in New Delhi, said with the choice of Adityanath as chief minister the BJP's agenda of Hindu nation is "no more a hidden agenda".

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