Is Yogi Adityanath the fall guy taking the hit for Modi?
By Sushil Kutty
Will the Bharatiya Janata Party recover in time for the by-polls in Uttar Pradesh? July 18’s morning news reports said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya have been convinced to stop the squabbling and get ready for the by-polls in 10 assembly seats of which five are confirmed Samajwadi Party strongholds and the remaining five, the party of Yadavs is hungering to make a meal of.
This, even as Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav asked restless BJP leaders to “come with 100 MLAs and form the government”. The BJP defended its UP unit. Understand, the BJP has been mostly defensive ever since June 4 when the results of the Lok Sabha elections were announced and the BJP found it had lost more seats than it had won! The Samajwadi Party was the emphatic victor with the Congress piggy-back riding on it.
More tellingly, the BJP humiliation was complete, repeatedly told to its face that it had lost the “right to rule with just 240 MPs.” Once glib and assured, BJP spokespersons couldn’t counter their INDI-Alliance counterparts. The BJP’s confidence had crumbled in the face of relentless assertions that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should own up responsibility for the “defeat”, and leave the proverbial “Build-ing” as quickly as possible.
If only the BJP had done better in Uttar Pradesh, where it won 33 Lok Sabha seats and the SP 35. The perception war is that the INDI-Alliance way and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who was overlooked in 2017 for the CM”s post, got his opportunity to blame the Yogi and eject him from the CM’s post.Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is the biggest stumbling block to many in Uttar Pradesh and not just KP Maurya. Both Akhilesh Yadav and Raebareli MP Rahul Gandhi also believe UP will be “theirs” if CM Yogi Adityanath is removed and the BJP is in total disarray. Who doesn’t know that the BJP’s central command is wobbly after the setbacks sustained in the Lok Sabha election 2024?
The question that arises, is whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being protected and Yogi Adityanath is the fall guy? The BJP’s plethora of second-rung leaders cannot do without Modi. Though Yogi Adityanath is very popular, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is considered as the only vote-catcher for the BJP just like the Gandhi family is the lucky charm for the Congress. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is riding the TINA factor and BJP voters have nobody else to choose from though this Modi isn’t the Modi of 2014 and 2019.
The swagger is gone. Modi acolytes now talk of Putin honouring Modi with Russia’s top award as proof of Modi’s invincibility. This, even as Modi has lost standing, in the BJP itself as evidenced by the UP infighting. Even NDA allies are criticizing and debunking BJP policies and actions. Is Keshav Prasad Maurya acting on his own or is he acting on “orders”. If so, on whose orders?
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s “bulldozer” has been blamed for the BJP’s poor showing in Uttar Pradesh by the “Nishad Party”. This wouldn’t have happened before June 4 and the “BJP defeat”. Neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Home Minister Amit Shah have spoken in support of Yogi Adityanath.
There was more proof of the BJP panicking when Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath put an abrupt halt to planned demolitions of illegal colonies on the banks of several UP rivers. On whose directions did he do so? Is the BJP anticipating a slaughter in the by-polls? If Keshav Prasad Maurya can openly attack Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, regardless of the BJP high-command, does it indicate that the party reins are slipping out of Modi and Shah’s oily fingers.
Modi doesn’t have to concede “defeat.” The BJP losing majority has spoken loud and clear. It is not about a “moral victory.” It is about losing the “perception war”. The BJP’s ‘IT Cell’ has lost its canines. The infighting in the Uttar Pradesh unit is a product of the BJP’s setbacks in Uttar Pradesh, and the BJP’s overall failure to get a clear parliamentary majority. The party’s highest echelons should have taken the blame, but it is ‘Operation Eject Yogi’, as predicted by the INDI-Alliance during the campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.Is Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath the fall guy? Has Prime Minister Narendra Modi been spared the embarrassment of looking like a failure? On July 17, both Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and LoP in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari blamed Modi’s ‘Sabka Saath and Sabka Vikas’ for the election setbacks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was let off the hook, but for how long? The UP by-polls are the litmus test for not just Yogi, but also for Modi. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya struck when the iron was hot! (IPA Service)