Effort to cut him to size boomeranged
Ubaidullah Nasir
After Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath has become another headache for Modi Amit Shah duo. Both of them conspired to get rid of him by putting all the blame of Covid mismanagement causing in the death of thousands in UP so much so that even Shamshan and Qabristan were filled but even rivers were filled with floating dead bodies. The duo first tried to cut Yogi to size by sending a trusted IAS officer of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Arvind Sharma (of Gujarat cadre )from PMO to UP who prematurely resigned to be a member of legislative council in Uttar Pradesh. Political pundits saw it as a ploy by Modi to change the leadership in the state or at least give some important ministerial portfolio like Home ministry to him. Since then about three months have passed and there has been no cabinet reshuffle. The recent political buzz was that Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya may be made state party president and Mr. Arvind Sharma will be deputy CM, but according to information Keshav Prasad Maurya expressed his anger that 2017 assembly election was fought under his presidency and those who voted for BJP specially OBCs were expecting him to be CM but instead of him Yogi ji was crowned, this time he will accept party’s state President ship only if he is projected as next Chief Minister .According to information it was not acceptable to Yogi ji and the RSS could not afford to annoy him inspite of Modi and Amit Shah’s willingness to sideline Yogi
RSS is in dilemma. It knows that Yogi with his more aggressive rather cruel and ruthless Hindutvavadi and anti Muslim image has carved a niche for himself and he has become invincible for UP BJP. He is more popular than Narendra Modi and Amit Shah duo among hard core communal “Hindutvavadi” voters of BJP. It is from frying pan to fire position for BJP in UP. There is no denying the fact that BJP government of UP is facing worst anti incumbency factor .Pandemic and farmers agitation have badly dented in its popularity that was visible in recently held three tier Panchayat raj election where it is lagging behind its main rival Samajvadi party. According to political observers, senior journalists and all those who have finger tip on political pulse of UP politics if elections are held today BJP will hardly touch three digits figure.
But in-spite of all the dislikes for Yogi’s ruthless communal divisive politics the facts remains that he could not be blamed for continuing farmer’s agitation which is the result of arrogance of Modi Amit Shah since the issue is related with central government .More than Pandemic this agitation is proving to be more politically costly for BJP specially in western UP which has been its strong hold after Muzaffar Nagar riots. Farmer’s anger cutting caste and communal lines had penetrated deeply not only in western UP but in central and eastern UP also though they have not come out as openly as western UP farmers but discontent is visible every where .
Yogi knows his importance and clout. He knows very well that BJP in UP has no other face to project as its CM in next assembly election. He also knows that hard core communal voter specially youngsters among them will not like his removal as he has become their brand ambassador. About 8% Thakur voters are solidly behind him .All other stalwarts from UP like Rajnath Singh (thakur) Dinesh Sharma (Brahmin) Manoj Sinha (Kayasth) , Santosh Gangwar (Kurmi) etc have been made paper tigers by Modi himself.
To what extent Yogi is angry with this development and to which extent he could go could be gauged from the fact that he did’nt meet even second in command in RSS hierarchy Mr. Hosbole who camped in Lucknow for two days but Yogi did not granted him audience and started his tour of districts to get first hand information about Covid.
It is reported that many of Yogi’s cabinet colleague and MLAs from his party are not happy with his style of functioning. They blame that CM more trusts bureaucrats than his cabinet colleagues. Some MLAs have even openly came out against their own government specially against Covid mismanagement and rampant corruption. After Hosbole’s failed mission the RSS deputed BJP’s national general secretary In-charge organizational affairs BL Santosh to meet state ministers and gauge their mood. This exercise continued for two days after which national vice president of the party Radha Mohan Singh announced that all is well in UP government and nothing untoward is going to happen. He also praised Yogi government for Covid 19 management and termed it as “unparallel” in the country. It was also told that the meeting was not “person specific” but discussion and talks were for strengthening the organization.
Thus Yogi ji has won first round the second round is going to be at the time when tickets will be distributed for assembly election. The fact is that Modi and Amit Shah are no more as Bahubali (strong) as they use to be. They will have to compromise with Yogi come what may be .