After Modi, will it be Yogi Adityanath?

Asia News Agency

After Modi, will it be Yogi Adityanath?

In the aftermath of the BJP victory in the recent elections, particularly in Uttar Pradesh,  Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is being referred to in sections of the media as the ‘second biggest mass leader’ after Modi in the BJP. By extension, writs Sugata Srinivasaraju (journalist, author and columnist) “that would make him the second most important leader in the country after Modi…..

 

A psychological ploy

“It is surprising that the ‘who after Modi’ question has been allowed to float around so early, especially when Modi is still in supreme command of his party, and there is no hint, whatsoever, of a threat to his prime ministerial chair….” The question of Modi’s successor, “can only be a strategic utterance rather than real….

“It is perhaps intended to create angst, longing and a sense of emptiness in the electorate. The emotions get accentuated if the projected alternative is an Adityanath and not an Amit Shah or a Rajnath Singh or a Nitin Gadkari. The choice of a saffron-clad Adityanath with rough edges particularly puts the opinion-making elite to tremendous discomfort. This discomfort would push them to either greater embrace of Modi or just hold on to him for longer. This whole question of succession and projection of Adityanath could be a psychological ploy that immeasurably accrues dividends for nobody else but Modi.”

 

The ideological ploy

Besides, argues Srinivasaraju “invoking Adityanath’s name and offering it some legitimacy….has ideological uses. A certain ideological air cover for the rest of India is created if a saffron-clad man is in charge of the biggest state, which has Kashi, Ayodhya, Mathura, Prayagraj, and Vrindavan. These are all holy spots in the minds of believers among Hindus and have been deftly reconstructed in their minds for purposes of political religion or Hindutva.

“To remodel the largest state in India as the spiritual headquarters of the faith, and not merely as a political pivot, has an entirely different effect. From this flows the political logic that the state should be secured under not just a believer but under a preacher. This makes Adityanath a fine symbol of Hindu assertion rather than a political successor to Modi. In Uttar Pradesh, it is Modi who is seen as the one who cleared the path for the temple in Ayodhya. He is projected as the benefactor and Adityanath as his chosen point-person to guard the faith.”

 


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