Deciphering BJP’s tactics of underutilizing Yogi Adityanath
Image credit X @myogiadityanath
BJP raises eyebrows for largely confining Yogi Adityanath to UP
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, May 31: The last day of the Lok Sabha elections ended on sore notes. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accused his successor and the incumbent, Narendra Modi, of being “dictatorial and despotic”. Singh also accused Modi of taking the dignity of the prime minister’s office to the disgraceful low.
Modi in one of his last speeches for the campaign warned the constituents of the Opposition alliance that if he “opened his mouth, seven generations of the leaders of the block will have to give accounts of their deeds. Singh seldom speaks. Modi is in midst of 45-hour-long “meditation” in Kanyakumari.
Before embracing silence, Modi gave 80 media interviews. The prime minister addressed 206 public meetings. He led roadshows also.
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Union Minister for Home Affairs, Amit Shah, belted out 115 media interviews. He also addressed more than 220 public meetings besides leading roadshows.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Jagat Prakash Nadda also gave bagful of media interviews. He also has a healthy number in stock for rallies and roadshows.
Union Minister for Defence, Rajnath Singh, held his grounds with limited media interviews and public meetings. Union Minister for Road and Surface Transport, Nitin Gadkari, also sparingly found sunshine in electioneering.
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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath missed out from the television studios. He barely gave a few television interviews. His interviews to the media are tough to find in the Lok Sabha elections.
The UP chief minister was the BJP’s one of the top campaigners in the recently held Assembly elections, as well as the past polls. He led the BJP’s poll charges in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh Assembly polls.
But political observers are raising eyebrows at the BJP’s tactics in the Lok Sabha elections for not using Adityanath in tune with the past records.
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Indeed, the UP chief minister rushed to raise the poll battle cries in Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. The film star, Kangana Ranaut, is locked in a tough election against the royal scion and the Congress candidate, Vikramaditya Singh.
Adityanath was the only top leader from the BJP to campaign for Maneka Gandhi in Sultanpur Lok Sabha seat. On the last day of campaigning, the UP CM also held a roadshow in Gorakhpur where the incumbent MP Ravi Kishen ran into the people’s ire for his perceived lack of accessibility and visibility.
Adityanath is the Hindu poster boy as per the consensus description of the political observers. He has also been the BJP’s lead campaigner for the saffron outfit’s bid for the consolidation of the Hindu vote base.
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Possibly, Modi usurped the role earlier executed by Adityanath after the BJP changed hears from the conclusion of the first phase of the polls. The sharp dip in the voters’ turnout alarmed the BJP.
Modi, as per the political observers, may have thought prudent that he has to lead the polarisation onslaught with the Congress manifesto as the fall guy. The BJP possibly became aware that the ‘Amrit Kaal’ and “Viksit Bharat’ were dud poll missiles.
So, Modi usurping the hard Hindutva plank may have made the BJP to allow the prime minister a solo run on the saffron turf. This may possibly explain why Adityanath largely confined to UP on the poll trails.
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