Hindutva, pro-dev, anti-mafia image make UP CM Yogi Adityanath crucial in final poll round
Yogi has been a big plus for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh as the party has breached rival strongholds and made inroads in their support base in successive polls
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the face of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign, but the Yogi Adityanath phenomenon has also come into play for the party in the eastern front in the crucial seventh and final phase of the polls.
Modi set the ball rolling by praising Adityanath in public meetings across eastern Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. The bulldozer of the Yogi government has ended goondaraj in Uttar Pradesh, he said at a public meeting in Ghosi that includes the Mau Sadar assembly segment, from where Abbas Ansari, son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was elected in 2022.
He also commended the Yogi administration for advancing his campaign against corruption and criminal elements.
He also said the development works done in Uttar Pradesh after Yogi Adityanath became chief minister were unparalleled since independence.
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Adityanath has been a big plus for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh as the party has breached rival strongholds and made inroads in their support base in successive polls.
Post the implementation of the Mandal Commission report in the 1990s, regional parties like the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party dominated U.P. politics.
With the passage of time, smaller parties like the Apna Dal (Sonelal), Nishad party and the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party ( SBSP) also took root in east UP with a hold over OBC castes.
However, the saffron-clad monk cut through the caste calculus of rival parties, spearheading the BJP strategy to sweep the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2022 assembly elections, winning all six parliamentary seats and 27 out of 28 assembly seats in Gorakhpur division.
Out of the 13 constituencies going to polls in the seventh phase on June 1, the BJP had bagged nine seats while its ally the Apna Dal (S) won two seats, taking the NDA tally to 11 five years ago.
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On his home turf Gorakhpur, Yogi consolidated the BJP’s hold after becoming chief minister in 2017 with the dual plank of development and welfare schemes reaching the beneficiaries.
The development of the state and action against the criminals by Yogi Adityanath government is going on in tandem with the BJP’s Hindutva agenda.
At public meetings, he makes it clear that after Ayodhya and Kashi, the BJP government is preparing to head towards Mathura.
On these 13 Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the seventh phase, the BJP is facing a strong challenge from the INDIA bloc that is trying to regain its lost ground in east U.P.
The BJP is dependent on Yogi to counter the opposition attack and maintain the hold on non-Yadav OBC, upper castes and extremely backward castes to sweep the election.
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In 2019, the BJP lost the Ghazipur and Ghosi Lok Sabha seats.
BSP candidate Afzal Ansari, brother of Mukhtar Ansari defeated BJP candidate Manoj Sinha, who is currently the Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor.
In Ghosi, BSP candidate Atul Rai, an aide of Mukhtar Ansari, defeated the BJP’s Hari Narayan Rajbhar.
With Yogi leading the campaign from the front, the BJP has mobilised its cadre to regain the seats this time.
With four days left for polling, Yogi has shifted to Gorakhpur, moving from one constituency to another, addressing half-a-dozen public meetings daily. The Opposition misrule and the work done by the BJP government remains the high point of his campaign.
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His effort to bring marginalised communities like the Vantangiyas, Mushars and Tharus into the mainstream by launching projects in their villages has strengthened the party’s hold on extremely backward communities.
Besides being the CM, Yogi heads the Gorakhnath temple trust, discharging social responsibilities that has established a bond between the people and the temple.
It gives an advantage to Adityanath in countering the opposition allegation of the promotion of upper castes.
The Yogi factor has been working for the BJP in the Dalit dominated reserved Bansgaon as well as upper caste Brahmin and Rajput dominated Deoria.
The organisation of sahbhoj (community feasts) in the Dalit-OBC dominated villages has also given him the edge in winning the support of both communities during the elections.
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The BJP leadership also realised the potential of Brand Yogi Adityanath that continued to pursue the development agenda, connecting eastern UP with the expressways, establishing medical college in the district headquarters, opening airports, new universities and educational institutions in the backward districts of Purvanchal.
“The Modi- Yogi card is working well for the BJP while INDIA bloc is organising joint rallies and road shows of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav to challenge the BJP’s might in the final phase of the Lok Sabha election,” BJP leader SK Sinha said.
The stature and image of Yogi Adityanath is much bigger than that of several BJP chief ministers as well as some Union ministers, said Harsh Sinha, a faculty at DDU Gorakhpur University.
Modi, who is aware of the fact, is strategically mentioning the performance of Yogi along with Modi ki guarantee in his public meetings in east U.P.
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“The BJP is aware of Yogi’s all-India appeal due to the tough decisions taken against the mafia in U.P. They would also like that if the trend of poll results in U.P is different from that in other states, the image would be strengthened,” he said.
“Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plan to create a division between Modi and Yogi did not work. Rather, a counterattack by Yogi strengthened his bond with the BJP leadership,” he said.
Gorakhpur-based social activist Mumtaz Khan said the BJP knows the Yogi factor will get them votes in the Purvanchal region.
“East UP underwent metamorphosis in last 10 years after Yogi Adityanath became chief minister. The development and welfare projects launched by the central government were implemented effectively by Yogi government. The people of east U.P. know Yogi Adityanath is the game changer for the region and the BJP also knows that the Yogi factor will win them votes,” he said.