Praising Yogi a compulsion for Modi-Shah combination

Lucknow: In a significant departure from the past Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah are, of late,  lavishing praise on the chief minister of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath. 
 
First, it was on July 15 that Modi, while inaugurating development projects worth Rs 1,500 crore in his parliamentary constituency, Banaras, highlighted the achievements of both the central and UP government. He patted on Yogi’s back  for very good work he had done at the height of COVID- 19. 

Then on August 1, Amit Shah while addressing a function in Lucknow, was all praise for the Yogi government for what he said has the best law and order record in  India.  He claimed as to how criminals used to rule the roost in the state when he was campaigning during 2017 Assembly election. He was then the party’s national president and camped in UP for many days.

Then on August 5 Prime Minister Modi, while apparently interacting with the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana of Uttar Pradesh showered eulogies on Yogi for the very good work he had done in the field of food distribution and in fighting the second wave of corona virus.

In fact, the purpose of his address was to celebrate the first anniversary of the foundation of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Yogi, who visited the temple town on this occasion too tried to make full political capital of this achievement and in return praised Modi for the construction work of Ram Mandir. 

Political observers are surprised over the way in which both Modi and Shah have suddenly changed their tone and are now openly backing Yogi and crediting him for handling the pandemic in a very well manner.

The irony is that till a couple of months back the duo was, according to media reports, not satisfied with the manner in which the challenge of pandemic was tackled. Rumours had started doing the rounds in political circles in Delhi and Lucknow that Yogi may be replaced. It was only after the intervention of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that Yogi could be bailed out.
 
Curiously, the two top BJP leaders are now leaving no stone unturned to praise Yogi to the sky when actually they seldom applaud any achievement of the state satraps belonging to their own party. Here Yogi is being repeatedly appreciated for the work he had not done. Actually, his government failed miserably and came under attack from the BJP leaders and workers itself.

The logic behind supporting  Yogi on the pandemic front is simple.  As it is a double-engine government in Uttar Pradesh backing down Yogi on this count may open a floodgate of criticism against the Centre too. After all people have not forgotten as to how the BJP bigwigs continued election campaign in West Bengal in April when the COVID-19 was taking a huge toll of life. 

Besides, Modi has now realized that so far going for election in UP is concerned there is no leader to the match of Yogi. What Modi actually wanted was to keep Yogi in tight leash and make him concede that he is the ultimate boss.

 
Keeping this in mind Modi carried out cabinet expansion on July 7 and has reportedly asked Yogi to broad-base his own team by inducting ministers from non-Jatav Dalits and non-Yadav backward castes.

Though Yogi had not yet inducted new faces in his ministry and not assigned Arvind Sharma, a former bureaucrat considered close to Modi, with any responsibility yet it is expected that the UP CM may soon toe the PM’s line.

The problem with the Modi-Shah team is that they are well adapted in the art of finding fault with the government led by the political rivals. So, they relished when the crowd would cheer at them while they would attack the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal. It is other thing that the result there went against the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In Uttar Pradesh, where the incumbency factor is working so much against them, the Modi-Shah combination is fumbling for a strategy and finding it difficult to launch a tirade against the political rivals.

Apart from that, the virtual absence of Congress from the scene of Uttar Pradesh is also coming in the way.

Though the Prime Minister chose to address the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana he is avoiding to speak on the three farm laws enacted by his government and against which the farmers of UP too are on the warpath.

Apart from UP, the four other states which are going for poll early next year are Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. In Punjab, the BJP without the Shiromani Akali Dal  does not count much. The farmers’ movement has further eroded its vote-bank. In Uttarakhand the frequent change of chief ministers has already marred its prospect.

There is nothing much at stake in small states like Goa and Manipur.
So, the saffron party is most likely to put all its energy to retain politically significant Uttar Pradesh. – India News Stream