Good Messaging: Post Farm Laws repeal :: Symbiotic 'Hindutva' bond

New Delhi:

In March 2017, days after the BJP stormed to power winning a landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh, only major issue in public debate was - how and why India's most politically important and populous state, should be ruled by Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister.

Well, I had argued that in choosing Adityanath — who follows an ascetic lifestyle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only authorized him to anchor BJP's government in the state, but also gave the Hindu groups and overwhelming pro-Hindutva support base a new generation of leadership.

Yogi has for that matter not looked back since then. Either for Tripura polls or in southern states such as Kerala and Karnataka, in any election season Yogi has been in immense demand for election campaigning.

On Nov 21, Sunday, Yogi Adityanath, who shared the photograph from his Twitter handle, wrote in Hindi “Hum nikal pade hain pran karke....ambar se ooncha jana hai, ek Bharat naya banana hai (We have started on with the pledge to sacrifice our body and mind. We are determined to create a new sun/wave and go further than the skies-to build a New India).”

Obviously the snaps and the tweet went viral in social media and there were public debate in more ways than one.

The photos of PM Modi, a catalyst of development with firm commitment to the Hindutva ideology, keeping his hand on Yogi Adityanth's shoulder would be in public memory for weeks and months to come.

PM Modi and the BJP leadership (Amit Shah was BJP president in 2017) have been visionary in creating a vote catcher while the Indian opposition and the Congress party were stuck in the political approaches of the 1970s.

Importantly, the Modi-Yogi snaps have surfaced within days the Prime Minister announced repeal of three farm laws.

In 2014-15 also after the Land Acquisition Bill was scuttled due to unreasonable resistance from opposition parties, there were skepticism about 'reforms' and even then the political-Hindutva agenda had surfaced in debate.

By 2017 December, the government introduced the Triple Talaq Bill and prior to that in 2016 November, PM Modi announced banning of high value currency notes.

In between, the GST was enforced displaying PM Modi's determination in steering some of the major electoral promises of his party.

Now that elections are due in important states including Uttar Pradesh, the snap would go down as a significant piece of photographic evidence that Mr Modi does have faith in Yogi, who is about 20 years younger to him.

The Hindutva issues are again on debate obviously. Yogi is the chief priest of the famed Gorakhnath (Shiva) temple in Gorakhpur and has has made Gorakhpur a winning constituency for four elections 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014.

If there was any debate on whether the Modi-Yogi combination is the ideal synthesis of politics and development or not, the snaps and the tweet from UP Chief Minister would put all speculation to rest.

(from old records)

In 2005, Yogi 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 the Mumbai-bound Mumbai-Gorakhpur Godan express train.

Yogi has also 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. 

Although a hard-liner, Adityanath was never a member of the socio-political group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the radical engine room that runs the BJP government and 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 saw 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.

ends