BJP Star Campaigner Yogi Adityanath's 'Love Jihad' Maths: Convert 100 for One

NEW DELHI: The rising star of the Bharatiya Janata Party under the presidentship of Amit Shah is controversial MP from Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath. Elected from this constituency in 2009 the Yogi was not given his full due in the party earlier but has emerged as a key speaker in Parliament, as well as a key member of the party’s campaign committee for the 11 Assembly byelections due to be held in Uttar Pradesh on September 13.

Shah, for whom UP has been a major launching platform with the 71 seats he secured the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, is determined to leave no stone unturned to secure all the eleven seats in the by elections in the state. Yogi Adityanath is critical to the campaign, being a fluent orator, and not averse to making any allegation or statement to push forward a Hindu versus Muslim agenda that seems to have become the buzz word for the BJP strategy in the largest state of India.

Forty two years old, Adityanath always clad in saffron robes, has drawn the ire of the opposition parties as well as women’s organisation for stating in a recent video that for “every Hindu converted, 100 Muslim girls will be converted as a retaliation.” He has been a strong voice in furthering the BJP state party’s new thrust on ‘love jihad’ and recently told television news channels that “we won’t tolerate what’s happening to Hindu women in the name of love jihad.” Adityanath has, however, not taken full credit for the video and his controversial comments maintaining that this was a “cut and paste” job.

Adityanath was fielded by the party to speak on the anti-communalism debate in the Lok Sabha recently where he touched and elaborated on all the key points being raised by the BJP these days, from the atrocities against the Kashmiri pandits to the violence in Assam where he soundly attacked the Congress party for supporting and legitimising “Bangladeshi’s” to seize land from the “genuine” citizens.

He has the reputation, within the BJP itself, for effortlessly ratcheting up the communal agenda through his masterful oratory, that is now far more visible on national platforms than before. He is thus clearly being seen as a major asset by Shah, and will be guiding ad determining the party’s campaign for the bypolls along with two other seniors Kalraj Mishra and the UP BJP president Laxmikant Bajpayee.

Adityanath’s opposition to political parties, say the Congress that remains a main target for him, and the Samajwadi party is expressed in highly communal rhetoric. The Congress is accused by him of appeasing those he describes as Bangladeshi’s in Assam, and the Samajwadi party according to him is responsible for registering false cases against “Hindus, who are being sent to jail, insulted.” In the 1990’s his counterparts could be well described as Uma Bharati and Sadhvi Rithambara who were the virulent campaigners for the party, but Adityanath is seen as more intelligent, articulate and definitely better informed and political.

Of the 11 bypolls, at least four are in western UP in districts directly or indirectly impacted by the continuing violence in the area. Love jihad has emerged as a major election platform that will be used by the BJP to consolidate the voters. Adityanath’s “cut and paste” comments are thus seen as highly significant with opposition leaders criticising him for polarising the electorate.