Everyone's happy about Yogi Adityanath as UP CM except Delhi media

Yogi Adityanath’s selection as the new BJP CM in UP might have stunned many in Lutyens' Delhi. But the media in the state has generally appreciated it. The BJP cadre is hugely enthused and Muslims in the state, particularly, have not reacted adversely. In fact, UP newspapers are flooded with full-page advertisements by some Muslim institutions of Gorakhpur welcoming Adityanath as the new CM.

The composition of the new Cabinet is a clear indication that the BJP is vowed to the ideal of “sabka saath sabka vikas”. However the smart move of surprising everybody by promoting the saffron swami, as PM Narendra Modi did in the case of surgical strikes and demonetisation, has an element of transformation if not disruption.

At the India Today conclave, Modi said he would like to be referred to as the chief transformer of the country. Modi has, in fact, transformed Uttar Pradesh politics in more ways than one. Yogi is the result, not the beginning of this paradigm shift.

UP with its 19 per cent Muslim population was considered an uphill task for the BJP. All political combinations and permutations in the state centered on this Muslim vote with the knowledge that about 100 seats here are for grabs because of Muslim dominance.

So Mayawati would counsel Muslims not to divide their votes after giving 105 seats to Muslim candidates. Mulayam Singh Yadav would chide his son as not doing enough for Muslims, though the previous SP government had 16 Muslim Cabinet ministers and Akhilesh would bend over backwards to please this community.

All this because the state was often won on 30 per cent vote and those who get the solid Muslim support had to look only for ten additional percentages. It worked alternatively and the logic behind the Rahul-Akhilesh tie up was also the same.

In 2014 and again in 2017, the Modi strategy has upset this apple cart. For the first time not only did the BJP won 75 of the 80 seats, but also not a single Muslim was sent to the Lok Sabha. Many thought it was a one-time aberration.

“People were swayed by misleading emotional appeal," they said. This time again, Muslim consolidation and strategic voting did not work. Fewer Muslim MLAs were elected - only 24 in place of 69 in 2012. The BJP has won 325 seats without putting up a single Muslim candidate, it has politically made the Muslim vote redundant. Not that the BJP did not get any Muslim vote, but to prove a point, the party had to establish that nobody should not ignore the other 80 per cent and take them for granted.

The Hindu voters too got sick of Muslim appeasement at the cost of dividing the majority. This marked a temporary setback for caste and communal politics practiced by the Congress, SP, and BSP. This political strategy worked for the BJP in Assam too where it won a two-third majority despite a 35 per cent Muslim vote. BJP did not play communal politics, but it responded and exposed the communalism of the so-called secular parties and won hands down.

The logic of choosing Yogi Adityanath to implement the development agenda is a politically infectious game. The idea of nationalism and development are not contradictory but complementary. You cannot make the nation prosperous without loving it and a Hindu mascot has to be essentially a patriot. 

What ails UP is the absence of this commitment. On his own, Yogi is a mass leader. A rabble rouser. An energetic campaigner. He addressed the maximum number of rallies after BJP chief Amit Shah and state chief KP Maurya. The PM addressed 18 rallies.

As one of the top campaigners of the BJP brand for the last two decades, Adityanath played a major role in shaping the party strategy. But till Modi became the star campaigner of the party, the BJP too was mired in the predilections of coming to terms with the Muslim vote bank and their strategic voting to defeat the BJP.

Modi took the challenge head on and proved the 18 per cent (15 per cent at the national level) cannot dictate the future of Indian polity. Like the Washington Consensus, the idea of political correctness built over Nehruvian secularism has also become redundant in the new context. The new India offers justice for all but appeasement of none. In a democracy, politics has to become majority-centric not minority obsessed.

Yogi Adityanath is a correction of the dynasty politics, corruption and limited caste-based manoeuvres. He will usher in peace, prosperity and justice. Above all, he'll ensure inculcation of national sentiment in the largest state.

On his success depends the future of the tryst Modi started in 2014. Yogi has a task cut out and his priority is to change the face of UP by making it the driver of India’s progress.

Also read: Yogi Adityanath as UP CM shows Modi still retains his Gujarat agenda