Yogi Begins Polarization In UP
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-09-14 02:50:15
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
If Hindus in UP, or elsewhere for that matter, believe and are made to believe that most welfare schemes by past governments (read non-BJP governments) were meant for those who call their fathers "Abba Jaan", as the UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath would like them to believe, then they are dumb and admitting that they had given up on their political clout all these years. Any government scheme, including the ration or free food grain scheme, is not marked for any particular caste or religious group. It is meant for the poor of the state. Hindus are the majority community and the caste-based politics in UP ensures that they are highly charged politically and are unlikely to let a particular community corner the benefits of a government scheme.
Yogi Adityanath and the BJP are doing a disservice to the nation by once again trying to polarize UP along religious lines for narrow political and electoral gains. This is just the beginning. There will be many more such attempts in the run-up to the state polls next year. While the Prime Minister repeatedly says that his government would like Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas, his lieutenants all over India are doing the opposite. How will the party win sabka vishwas if it indulges in majority appeasement? Such statements sound attractive to the constituency that Yogi caters to (and it was proved by the huge roar from the crowd when he uttered it) but are dangerous as they poison the minds of the Hindus.
Winning UP is of utmost importance to the BJP. Yogi is fighting anti-incumbency as his record, in Covid management, law and order and crime against women is not good. Further, the caste arithmetic so assiduously put together by Amit Shah is the past seems to have broken down and the Dalits and OBCs are once again suspicious of the BJP. Yet, there are many pressing problems in the state. The election should be contested by promising to provide a better life to the people and not by turning one community against another.
