The day Yogi Adityanath was anointed chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, questions started to rise from various quarters questioning his accession. Most of the questions were from his political opponents, and intellectuals. Can he carry all the people along? What will happen to Muslims in his chief ministership? Will Uttar Pradesh split over communal lines? How will he run the government? How will he make use of the bureaucrats with divided loyalties for Mayawati and Akhilesh? Will he be able to work with PM Modi’s clarion call of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas?”
A section of flatterers and carpetbaggers have already started rehabilitating his image. They have started saying that Yogi Adityanath has become the “liberal face” of BJP. Yogi’s image has been formed on the basis of his speeches and rhetoric in all these years. There is certain solidification in that perception. Yogi knows this very well. This is precisely why he did not rush into image makeover exercise, and started taking steps after cold calculations. He is also said to be keeping everyone in loop while taking decisions. He is trying to learn the tricks of the trade. He is establishing rapport with the bureaucrats. However, he still takes out time for crude politicking.
His detractors have also realised that he is handling administration as well as politics at tandem. This can only be possible if he is giving long hours of the day. He is also said to be looking for officers who can match his work-style. And Yogi is quite up-front about it. In a meeting with top bureaucrats, he was heard saying openly that none of the ministers or party representatives would be allowed to meddle with the administrative work, nor will they be allowed to work as a go-between. “No one will be allowed to recommend anyone for any contract. You can only monitor the work for quality control. I have come here to work for 18-20 hours. And I am looking for people who will match these hours. Those who cannot must look for other avenues,” he had said.
Yogi has also claimed that in days to come, law and order situation of the state will be strengthened to such a level that all the mafias and goons, who have had field day under political protection till now, will be chased out of the province. “If they choose to remain in the state, they will have no option but to be in jail. Mafia men would not be allowed to participate in contracts, however influential they may be,” he added in good measure.
At the very least these statements are an indicator of what is in the offing in the coming days. It is obvious that the CM is very conscious about his own image and the image of his party. Although he is a greenhorn as far as running an administration is concerned, he is aware of what needs to be done in order to run the state. He also wants to change the work culture of the state administration. He is meeting with the department heads separately in a one-to-one meeting. He often carries both his deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma along. This has put the bureaucracy in pressure. Every department head is falling over each other trying to convince the CM that his department can be optimally used to benefit people. And how will this make the CM more popular among the masses.
Several secretaries have already presented a detailed roadmap of what all works can be done through their respective departments. It is on the basis of this roadmap that the CM has made several announcements regarding the works that will be done within a year.
In the same vein, he has also started putting pressure on the bureaucrats to mend the law and order situation in the state. Unlike the previous administrations, he is not in a hurry to shuffle the state bureaucracy. Although he has changed a few SPs and some other key police officers including some DGs. But he has avoided mass purge. Sources close to the chief minister maintain that the CM is of the opinion that it is better to make optimal utilisation of the existing bureaucrats in their existing respective roles. He is also said to be concerned about how to fulfil the promises made during the election. However, this does not mean that he is letting go any opportunity for his personal image makeover. He is thickly involved in the politicking too, as mentioned earlier. Waiving off agriculture loan was indeed a big decision. But it was also a political one.
In the first few days, yogi’s detractors have also realised that he is capable of handling administration as well as politics at tandem
The decision was taken in his first cabinet meeting. It is said that only twice in the history of India has agriculture loans been waived at such a large scale. The first was in the 1980s when Devi Lal as Deputy PM decided to waive off loans up to Rs. 10,000. UPA government under Manmohan Singh had waived off loans worth Rs. 62,000 crore. This was only the third occasion when such a decision was taken. Farm loans up to the amount of Rs. 1 lakh were waived off for small and marginal farmers. This step will add an additional burden of Rs. 36,000 crore on state exchequer. Apart from this, irrespective of their respective moral locations, the decision to ban illegal abattoirs and formation of the so-called Anti-Romeo Squad was no less daring steps. A certain section of the society is welcoming these steps. Several other BJP-ruled states have also given signal that they will also target illegal abattoirs.
As far as politicking is concerned, Yogi made it a point to call on Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav, and his son Prateek. He also visited their Gowshala before paying a visit to his brother and Akhilesh’s bête noire Shivpal Yadav. He resorted to his incendiary remarks as far as the issue of triple talaq is concerned. He went on to compare this with the disrobing of Draupadi. This was deliberately done to keep Hindu right in good mood. He also decided to meet representatives of Hindus and Muslims in order to look for the “amicable” solution of the Ayodhya issue. This step has become a hot topic for discussion among the Muslim community.
In the same spirit, he has set his eyes on the scams done during the reign of Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav. He has reopened the case of the sale of sugar mills by Mayawati. He has also ordered probe in Akhilesh Yadav’s Gomti Riverfront project. He has also indicated towards the discontinuation of several schemes by Akhilesh Yadav including Samajwadi Pension Yojana.
Talking to TSI, senior political analyst Anshuman Shukla says, “Yogi is working with future set in his eyes. He is working as if he will be here for a long haul. The kind of majority the party has achieved is unprecedented. It does not need to further crush the opposition by triggering split in the opposition parties. However, if he is still on it then he is thinking several years in the future. He knows pretty well that the combined vote of the opposition is more than BJP’s. He also knows that if there is a grand alliance of opposition in the Lok Sabha, it will be problematic for him as well as the party. Therefore, he is trying to weaken the opposition to such an extent that it loses its bearing in the 2019 polls. Both SP and BSP will see split in the months to come. For Congress, that day will come sooner.”
Anshuman further stresses that as far as Yogi’s decisions and style of working is concerned, they are mostly for optics. These decisions will further endear him with the right-wing Hindus of the state: the same section that brought him to the power. “Shutting down of abattoirs, cleansing of the chief minister’s house through hawan and Hindu ritual, comparing Surya Namaskar with Namaz, making Yoga compulsory in government schools; all these steps have a certain tinge in them. He also made sure that media adequately covers his fast or phalahar during Navratra. The occasion also saw Kanya Puja in the premises. All this has further strengthened his image as a Hindutva icon. More than his works, it is this very image that will fetch him bounty in the future elections.”
But politicking is not only restricted to opposition parties. There’s a lot to do inside the party too to cement his position. He does not seem to have a competitor in the foreseeable future. However, one can never be too sure about such things. But Yogi after all is no pushover either. He is attending all working committee meetings so that his seat does not remain unoccupied.
He has also taken Mayawati in the target. Mayawati is unable to accept defeat in the elections. She is extremely frustrated by the fact that it would be impossible for her to even secure a Rajya Sabha seat. But she is not sitting idle. She is raising the issue of apparent insult and injustice done to Dalits and Brahmins inside the BJP. She is looking at the old alliance. She has brought her brother to the party fold and is now ready to strike alliance with any party to stop BJP. Akhilesh Yadav had sent such feelers even before the results were announced.
Yogi is keeping an eye on this possible alliance between SP and BSP. He knows that he will have to stitch-up even wider social alliance to beat the SP-BSP bandwagon. With keeping Hindutva alive on one hand to delivering on the promises made in the elections on the other, he has his hands full and task cut out. His next target is to deliver UP to BJP in 2019 and remain in the good books of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Till the time he delivers this, his seat is secure.
