Can Yogi Adityanath become the next PM of India?

Ground Report | New Delhi: Yogi Adityanath next PM of India; Polling for the first phase of Assembly elections have been held on February 10 in Uttar Pradesh. Voting for the 403-member state assembly will take place in a total of seven phases. The final round of polling will take place on March 7 and the results will be announced on March 10.

The fate of the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh is at stake in this Assembly election, with about 15 per cent of India's MPs reaching the lower house. Thus, Uttar Pradesh plays an important role in determining the Prime Minister of India. Out of the 14 Prime Ministers of India so far, nine Prime Ministers, including the present Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have been from UP.

According to the report of DW, some analysts believe that Yogi Adityanath could be the BJP's next prime ministerial candidate. Adityanath is considered close to the top leaders of the ruling BJP, including Prime Minister Modi.

Ajay Mohan Bisht is the real name of Yogi Aditya who is wearing a special kind of saffron-coloured dress. But after becoming a yogi, that is, withdrawing from worldly comforts, he changed his name to Yogi Adityanath and has been the head priest of Gorakhnath temple since September 2014.

Before joining mainstream politics, he started an organization called Hindu Yuva Vahini. Although they call it a Hindu religious organization, it works for the protection of cows and "return home". Returning home means converting followers of Islam, Christianity or other religions to Hinduism.

Sudha Pai, a former professor of political science at Jawaharlal University, said, "Adityanath has the image of a religious leader. He established his roots in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh and became a political leader. "

Explaining this, Pai says, "Since his record has been poor during the last five years of his rule, the RSS (BJP's coaching body) may not field him as its prime ministerial candidate. ۔ As a leader, he has no significant influence, especially in southern India. ”

The main rival of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh is the Samajwadi Party led by former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, which has managed to form alliances with several local parties in the recent Assembly elections.

A news magazine 'India Today' in its 'Mode of the Nation' survey in 2020 named Yogi Adityanath as the best Chief Minister. Opposition parties have stated they will not run in the by-elections. He says there is no concrete evidence to support this claim.

Controversial agricultural laws passed by the BJP government in 2020 also exposed farmers' resentment against Adityanath.

Political analyst Prof. Arvind Kumar from the University of London while talking to DW said that although the agricultural laws were not made by the administration of Yogi Adityanath but by the Modi government at the center, the farmers for three reasons Are angry

Arvind Kumar said, "The first reason is the problem of stray cows due to the ban on cow slaughter. The second reason is that the price of sugarcane has not increased in the last four years and the third reason is inadequate management of the market for the purchase of grains while the increase in electricity rates has also increased the anger of farmers against the state government.

 Over the past several months, several ministers of the Adityanath government have left the party and joined the rival Samajwadi Party, a sign of displeasure with the leadership.

Professor Kumar says the departure of senior ministers from the party has given the impression that yogis only protect the interests of the upper castes, especially the Rajputs. He said that with the departure of senior ministers from the party, Adityanath's image has changed from a Hindu leader to a Rajput leader, which would be politically detrimental to him.

During his five-year tenure, Adityanath changed the names of several cities, including Allahabad and Mughal Sarai, to Hindu names like Prayag Raj and Din Dayal Upadhyay. He also enacted a law against "Love Jihad". They claim that this was done to protect the rights of Hindu women. However, Adityanath is a popular leader of a large section of Hindus in India and can succeed.

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