Maurya’s resignation, the biggest crisis within BJP since 2014

The resignation from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet and likely joining of the Samajwadi Party by Swami Prasad Maurya and several other Bharatiya Janata Party legislators is the first such open revolt in the saffron party since May 2014 when it came to power at the Centre.

Ironically, the latest development came within two and a half years of the August 5, 2019 deoperationalization of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, two years after the November 9, 2019 Ayodhya verdict by the Supreme Court, one and a half year after the foundation laying of Ram Temple on August 5, 2020 and less than a month of last December holy dip in river Ganga by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in
his own parliamentary constituency, Banaras.

If so many leaders of the BJP–and that to in the state where it got unprecedented mandate in 2017– are leaving the party then something serious is in the store for the Sangh Parivar which has always been grooming Yogi as the future prospect.

If Swami Prasad Maurya and his associates really succeed in their gamble, it would be a big blow to the BJP. After all it is a fact that the top brass of the BJP was not happy with the style of functioning of Yogi and they wanted to get rid of him.

The failure to tackle the second wave of corona virus was to be used as an excuse to replace him. The ruling party in New Delhi got enough feedback that going with Yogi as the chief minister would be a risky exercise.
But it was the RSS, which according to sources, persuaded the BJP central leadership last summer to go with Yogi as the chief ministerial face in the Assembly poll in Uttar Pradesh. After all Yogi was the only leader, besides Modi and home minister Amit Shah, who is used by the Sangh in poll campaign in all the
states of India.
There was a view in the Sangh Parivar that the tussle between Modi and Yogi was more personal in nature as the former was a bit alarmed by the prominence the UP CM was getting withinthe Hindutva family. But the Sangh Parivar is always of the view that Yogi, who is over two decades junior to Modi, would be the best
successor of the latter.

After the rapprochement between the two Modi visited Banaras on July 15 last to inaugurate schemes and projects worth hundreds of crores. The Prime Minister is now openly praising Yogi as he has no option left.

But if Yogi fails to keep his flock together and more leaders cross over to Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party it would herald an era of unccertainity in the BJP. Yogi, who is originally from Uttarakhand, will lose much of his bargaining position within the BJP. It needs to be mentioned that he was not the first choice for the post of CM after the BJP and its allies won 325 seats in 2017.

The impact of the latest development would not remain confined to Uttar Pradesh, but would certainly have much larger ramifications. The saffron brigade is struggling to limit the damage. But the success does not appear to be in sight. – INDIA NEWS STREAM
The author is a senior political commentator. The views expressed in the article are author’s own.