Not Modi’s development but Yogi’s Hindutva is BJP and RSS’ game plan in Gujarat

Narendra Modi ruled Gujarat for 12 long years with the title of ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’ and this is what prompted the RSS and BJP to project him as a prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 general election. But in a nation full of diversity, the use of hardcore Hinduism cannot give you the desired results. That is why the Hindutva was mixed with the sweetness of development and Modi was presented as the ‘Vikas Purush’. But now since development has gone nuts amid sharp criticism from all around, the BJP and RSS both have been shaken. The problem is that not only the senior leadership of the BJP is criticising the ‘development model’, sharp criticism is coming from within the RSS too, especially on the issue of farmers’ unrest and unemployment.

Although the general elections are 19-20 months away, but the ‘laboratory’ has elections this year only. It was from here Narendra Modi reached the helm of power.

In such a situation when Modi quotes certain characters from Mahabharata instead of Ramayana on the occasion of Diwali, it can well be understood that he now has no idea how to control the ‘development which has gone nuts’.

So, the BJP has once again started the process of their age-old formula which according to them is infallible. And that is the Hindu card and polarisation. Who else can be better than UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for this? Therefore, Amit Shah is showcasing Adityanath even in the places where BJP does not have any base.

The reports of children’s deaths in Uttar Pradesh hospitals have not as yet faded but Yogi Adityanath was seen and heard praising the state’s health services in Kerala. The BJP and its president Amit Shah made Yogi lead the Jan Raksha Yatra in Kerala. And when Rahul Gandhi tore the ‘development’ to pieces in Gujarat and seeing the huge crowd his meetings in Gujarat are attracting, an anxious BJP once again launched Yogi Adityanath in Gujarat to play the Hindu card.

But Yogi Adityanath has been embroiled in too many controversies for many of his decisions as the Chief Minister of UP in a short span of six months. Despite that, BJP first sent him for the Jan Raksha Yatra in Kerala and now he has been made the star campaigner in Gujarat, considering the soon to be held Assembly polls. Reports are in that he will be the star campaigner in Himachal Pradesh too. So, the question is why the BJP is promoting the ‘Yogi Model’ instead of that of Prime Minister Modi.

Till now, PM Modi was considered to be the only and the biggest face of the party. But is the party preparing Yogi as an alternative to PM Modi by projecting him as the star campaigner in Modi’s home state?

Not only the BJP but RSS too feels that in present circumstances, Modi’s development model is not working. Decisions like demonetisation and GST have shaken the economy badly. People have now started questioning Modi’s decisions. Even Gujarat’s traders are quite upset with GST. Even the infamous troll gang of BJP is now lying low.

But why is the BJP and RSS so enthusiastic about Yogi Adityanath? In fact, as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi has taken some decisions which promote the Hindutva model of the RSS. A huge statue of Lord Rama on the banks of Sarayu in Ayodhya, shutting down slaughter houses in the state, making videography of Independence Day celebrations in Madrasas compulsory and colouring government buses saffron on Deen Dayal Upadhyay’s birth anniversary are some of these decisions.