UP: Monk who blurred lines between church and state comes out on top

The Adityanath government has managed to weather a political storm

As trends strongly indicate, Yogi Adityanath's BJP government is set to reclaim Uttar Pradesh despite recent events that seemed to paint his government in poor light.

The Adityanath government has managed to weather the farmers' protests, the Lakhimpur Kheri killings, the misreporting of Covid-19 deaths, dead bodies in the Ganga, desertions by OBC leaders and the backlash following the Unnao rape case. What is perhaps more surprising is the Opposition's failure to capitalise on the anti-incumbency factor.

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Among the messages that failed to connect with the people were the Congress's campaign focusing on women empowerment and the Samajwadi Party's attempt to cut into the saffron party's OBC vote share through an alliance with Jayant Choudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal.

Born Ajay Mohan Bisht, the Lotus camp's star Yogi Adityanath is known by many names but has one clear agenda - he's devoted to Hindutva.

Adityanath initially dipped his toes into the ocean of politics by joining the left-wing Students' Federation of India organisation. He later realised that the organisation's values were far removed from his own, which prompted him to move to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the RSS.

In 1988, he became a parliamentarian at age 26. He was already a prominent name in the Gorakhpur Mutt and was known as 'Chota Mahant'. Around this time, Adityanath began making a name for himself with anti-Muslim rhetoric.

"The mutt had been the main centre of the Ramjanmabhoomi movement for over 60 years under Yogi’s predecessors Digvijay Nath and Avaidyanath, but the advent of Yogi Adityanath was marked with his aggressive approach on Hindutva along with the creation of the right wing outfit Hindu Yuva Vahini," Vijai Trivedi, who wrote a biography about him, was quoted as telling The Print. "His role in the eastern UP politics in the aftermath of the January 2007 communal riots and subsequent events further helped buttress this image. The mutt, which once saw visits by Muslims in large numbers, started witnessing a decline on that front under Yogi."

His image in Gorakhpur is still that of a powerhorse among his many loyal supporters. The Hindu Yuva Vahini is a vocal believer in cow vigilantism, anti triple-talaq laws, 'ghar wapsi' and fighting the threat of 'Love Jihad' - trends closely associated with contemporary Hindutva. These beliefs were consequently adopted by the chief minister's party leaders in Delhi.

Adityanath has not always been on the best of terms with the saffron party in the past and he has organised events on the same day as other BJP ministers to stir things up.

During the run-up to the 2017 elections, Adityanath was not even potrayed as a BJP star campaigner in the initial phases. However, as speculations ran wild about UP's CM face, his name was announced by the party.

Despite the BJP's recent shortcomings and turmoil in the state, Adityanath has proven his political strength and is headed to the CM's chair again.

Analysts warn that Adityanath's rigidity - the facet that catapulted him to glory - could also be his downfall. "He is a firebrand Hindutva leader, but to play a bigger role at the Centre, he needs flexibility and needs to compromise, which is necessary in politics," Badri Narayan, director at the GB Pant Social Science Institute, told The Print. "That flexibility is so far missing in his actions. He does not think too much of what is happening around and follows his own judgement."

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