Meat crusades and Romeo watch: 4 days of Yogi as UP CM have been eventful

The appointment of Yogi Adityanath — the head priest of Guru Gorakhnath Math, casual ghar wapasi enthusiast and Hindutva ideologue — as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh has been one that has earned the BJP criticism from not just the liberal media, but also from within their own support base. Of course, for a majority of the UP population, this is a move that has been widely appreciated.

And while it is too early to tell just how well the firebrand leader will fare during his tenure as the chief minister of the state, Yogi Adityanath seems to be wasting no time in asserting his dominance as the state’s alpha. Barely five days into the office, Adityanath has already making his bones as a man who will not tolerate any crime (which is a little ironic considering that he has a few well-documented charges against him), as he instructed state police chief Javeed Ahmed to “be vigilant” in tackling crime in the state.

But does he mean to just talk or to walk that talk as well?

The UP chief minister, in the past four days, has done his best to leave no doubts in the minds of those who dwell in the state that they are not to mess with him. Here’s what he has been up to.

Policing the Romeos

Shakespearean inaccuracies aside, BJP’s promised “Anti-Romeo Squads” are already in place and they are making everyone nervous. In a land dominated by couple-thrashing vigilante groups, a state sponsored moral police is exactly what we need. On paper, the Anti-Romeo Squads are there to “protect the honour of women". In real life, they might be doing a little more than that.

What are these squads?

According to a News18 report, each squad consists of two policemen, both uniformed and in plainclothes (generally one male and one female). While two to three teams could be deployed in the jurisdiction of one police station, the number of teams deployed would depend on the number of schools and colleges in the area. Their task is to identify eve-teasers and troublemakers in a crowd. 

“As the police raids a hotel when there is a complaint of prostitution, it will act on similar lines against miscreants involved in eve-teasing etc. If we have suspicions on any individual or couple, we’ll simply ask for their credentials. Nobody will be intentionally harassed. Every action will be within the ambit of law. For the first-timers, we’ll warn them and leave. But habitual offenders will be taken to task. The objective of this operation is to create fear among eve-teasers that they won’t be able to get away with crime,” said Prakash Singh, the former DGP of Uttar Pradesh.

Again, on paper, these don’t sound like a bad idea. But are the ground realities as rosy?

In Meerut on March 21, these squads were out on the streets keeping the BJP’s election promise alive. But according to a Times of India report, people have complained that these squads are liberally tip-toeing the line between policing and moral policing.

An angry father told TOI that it was not for the police to decide where boys can stand. "My son is 19, and is an adult. It makes no sense to call up his father to say that his son is loitering around."

According to the report, a boy who was picked up said that random people were being harassed. "I was standing outside DN College to meet a friend, and the police gave me a warning. They wanted to call my parents, but I did not give them the right number. They did not even know if I was there to meet a girl or a boy. For them, any young boy in public on a bike is a 'majnu'," he said.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the Lucknow police rounded up a couple at a busy intersection, detained the man briefly at the local station and imparted “moral teaching” to the woman.

Across the country, the police force has been guilty of trying to become the torchbearers of morailty and culture, especially to the "misguided youth". Law-enforcemnt officials already happily participate in troubling couples (or just something that might remotely look like a couple). It seems like giving them specific powers to stop and question those that fall in their moral line-of-sight, is just what was missing in a state already having gainded excellence in state-sanctioned gundagardi (they've had years of practice).

Meat crusade

While campaigning for the Assembly elections, BJP leaders made promises of taking stern steps to close down all illegal slaughterhouses besides banning mechanised slaughterhouses when it comes to power. This was something that was part of their manifesto as well.

The saffron party has vowed to put an end to illegal cow slaughter in the state, a matter that had to be given obvious priority in a state that is dealing with an ongoing epidemic of crime and corruption.

On Tuesday, March 21, an allegedly illegal slaughterhouse in Kamalgadaha was sealed by the district authorities, claiming that the slaughterhouse in question had been shut in 2012, but nevertheless continued to operate. The Ghaziabad police too, on Tuesday sealed ten meat shops and four slaughter houses which were allegedly running illegally in the city.

On Wednesday, March 22, three buffalo meat processing plants in Meerut, belonging to a former Bahujan Samaj Party legislator’s family, were sealed. And while the owners claimed that they have legitimate government approval and documents to run the plants, the officials informed them that there were discrepancies, particularly in regard to them following the terms of the licence.

And while illegal institutions need to be tackled, the state must also be held accountable for the economic changes these crackdowns may bring about. Uttar Pradesh is the largest exporter of meat in the country. Rather than getting the illegal slaughter houses and meat shops regularised and penalise them for operation in a clandestine manner, the shut down that this government is exacting, will render thousands jobless. It will also have an impact on the leather industry. 

Another less important, but rather widely publicised consequence of this meat crusade was the shutdown of one of Lucknow’s most iconic eateries. Just for a day, though. The century-old Tunday Kababi shut down for a day, after an acute unavailability of meat. The eatery is not out of business. But it is worth noting that the effects of these crackdowns were rather immediate on businesses revolving around the meat industry.

But of course, a development-oriented BJP will give precedence to a crowd-pleasing crackdown with economic ramifications as compared to a legitimate solution. But that’s not the only problem. The cow-favouring party’s rise has given wings to vicious vigilantes who now believe that a Hindutva rule in UP grants them carte blanche on terrorising those who, they perceive as problematic.

On March 21, three shops selling meat and fish were set ablaze by unidentified persons in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. The shop owners said all their stock was charred in the fire. Dilip Kumar Srivastava, superintendent of police, Hathras, said, “Unidentified persons set ablaze three shops selling fish and meat. An FIR has been registered against them”.

In Yogi’s “Uttam Pradesh”, is everyone with a meat shop a potential Mohammed Akhlaq?

Straightening the structure

But abattoirs and young lads are not the only thing the priest chief seems to be attacking. On Monday March 20, Yogi Adityanath ordered the relieving of all non-government advisors, chairmen, deputy chairmen and members in corporations, committees and departments from their duties with immediate effect.

The surprising move, and one that attacks his predecessor right in the kisser, came hours after the new CM held his first meeting with senior bureaucrats. In this first meeting, Adityanath also asked UP government officials to submit details of their movable and immovable properties and income tax within a time period of 15 days.

In addition to that, Adityanath also banned the sale and consumption of gutkha and pan masala in all government offices in the state.

The attack on VVIPs doesn’t stop there. At least an attempt was made.

Adityanath, who had initailly asked all ministers to give up the red beacons on their cars, later retracted his order. But he has continued to urge all his ministerial colleagues to shun siren and hooters as they create noise pollution.

Credit where it’s due, these are definitely moves that ought to straighten bureaucrats and government members who, in India, are rather used to doing things the way they want.

Also read - What is the truth in Yogi Adityanath's crackdown on abattoirs and UP's meat crisis?