Yogi Adityanath as UP CM

When I first came to know that Yogi Adityanath is front-runner to become UP CM on Saturday, I was surprised and thought that this is a “Crazy” decision. Once it was formally announced, top journalists and many opposition supporters and a few BJP supporters vigorously opposed the decision on social media. When I logged into Facebook & Twitter, I was shocked at the reactions. It seems that India has turned upside down and Modi has betrayed the faith of India.

As the dust settles down on Yogi’s appointment as CM, we may say that there were many factors which worked in Yogi’s favor. In Bihar & UP, casts are the most important factor of elections. BJP received overwhelming support by many caste groups like – Upper casts, Non-Yadav OBCs and Non-Jatav SCs (to a lesser extent). A CM from one caste group may have alienated other caste groups. Even though Yogi Adityanath is Thakur (Rajput) by caste, he is first a “Yogi”. And Yogis are above caste. In fact “Goraknath Math” (whose head priest is Adityanath) has more followers among OBCs than other caste groups. So the face of Adityanath being a Yogi is casteless. Yogi Adityanath has been a MP from Gorakpur seat since 1998 and the seat has been under the Goraknath Math since 1989. Yogi has a strong follower base in eastern UP and this time he campaigned in all parts of the state. He is the tallest BJP leaders in UP apart from Rajnath Singh in terms of grass-root level support.

Yes, Yogi Adityanath has been a controversial figure throughout his political career. He is considered to be a Hindu hardliner and there have been many criminal cases filed against him. But BJP was also considered to be a Hindu Hardliner party till 90s but it successfully governed India from 1998 to 2004. There have been no major riots in BJP ruled state expect Gujrat riots of 2002. PM Modi was considered to be a more hardliner among so called “liberals” & “intellectuals”. Congress President Sonia Gandhi has called him “Maut Ka Sudagar” (Merchant of death). Even a large section of Media still hates him for his “alleged” role in Gujrat Riots despite clean chit from Supreme Court. But Modi has ran a Central Government without any bias towards minorities. If there is a central scheme then all eligible Indians have got benefit of it irrespective of caste, religion, sex etc.

UP election was won by BJP on the issue of development & right caste calculation. So Yogi will have to work very hard towards development of UP. He is now CM of all 210 million people of UP not just Hindus. He will have to take everyone along & he can’t ignore any community. There has been some reports that despite his firebrand image, Yogi had helped Muslims in his Gorakpur area. Modi has taken a big risk which may backfire in 2019 due to Yogi’s image. But for big gains don’t come without risk. If Yogi is able to change his image and work tirelessly towards development, then Modi may win 2019 election easily.

Past is not guaranty for future. Let us give Yogi Aditynath at least 12 months before drawing any conclusion about him.