The story of Indian politics over the past decade is, at one level, a story of consolidation of good governance with Hindu nationalism, and of an electorate that is increasingly impatient with ambiguity.
From the Ram Temple in Ayodhya to the redevelopment of sacred corridors in Kedarnath and Kashi, the public expression of civilisational identity has moved decisively into the political mainstream. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi carries the Bhagavad Gita into diplomatic exchanges across the globe, it is read not merely as symbolism but as a statement of cultural confidence.
This changing landscape has posed a complex challenge for non-BJP leaders across states, who ran their politics on minority appeasement and dividing Hindus into castes.
In Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin and his father lead a political tradition of Dravidian politics which stood on an anti-Sanatana, anti-Hindi and seemingly anti-North narrative. His son Udhayanidhi Stalin went on to compare Sanatana with dengue and malaria.
In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee has brazenly followed Muslim appeasement at the cost of her Hindu electorate. In 2017, she restricted the immersion of Durga idols during Muharram, which saw the intervention of the Calcutta High Court. Chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ had riled her beyond imagination.
The electoral consequences are beginning to show in varying degrees across regions. The Opposition’s long-standing reliance on coalition arithmetic—of caste blocs, welfare guarantees, and minority consolidation—is being tested against PM Modi’s strong governance and Hindu consolidation plank. BJP Chief Ministers like Yogi Adityanath, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Devendra Fadnavis display a strong walk-the-talk on BJP’s governance and cultural nationalism agenda.
That brings the spotlight to Uttar Pradesh and Akhilesh Yadav.
Akhilesh vs Adityanath in UP
Unlike his counterparts in Tamil Nadu or West Bengal, Akhilesh is not currently in power. That reality imposes its own constraints. Electoral politics from the Opposition bench demands not just critique but a compelling counter-vision—one that can match the ruling narrative on both governance and identity. With Yogi Adityanath as the longest-serving chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh must not be seeing much hope for the 2027 UP Assembly elections.
The BJP’s model in Uttar Pradesh has been to fuse infrastructure with Hindu identity: expressways alongside temple development, investment summits alongside religious tourism. Whether one agrees with this approach or not, it has created a cohesive narrative that is easy to communicate and difficult to counter in fragments.
For Akhilesh Yadav, the challenge is twofold. First, to expand beyond the traditional social coalition of Muslims and Yadavs that powered the Samajwadi Party under Mulayam Singh Yadav. And second, to articulate a vision that speaks to both aspiration and identity—without ceding ground on either.
The Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh Yadav have multiple stinking skeletons in their closet. Remember how the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in 1990 ordered the police to open indiscriminate fire on Kar Sevaks in Ayodhya. People would also remember how the Akhilesh Yadav government tried to free those accused of terror attacks to cater to his minority vote bank. Akhilesh gets a stink from Gaushalas and doesn’t trust indigenous Covid vaccines.
People of UP have rewarded Yogi Adityanath with two consecutive terms, which is historic in the 75-year history of Uttar Pradesh. The electorate of UP did not allow even many political stalwarts to complete their full five-year term as chief minister. Mayawati and Akhilesh barely completed their five-year terms and were voted out immediately afterwards. Voters did not allow any CM to remain in office for more than five years, yet the same people are not allowing Yogi Adityanath to go even after ten years.
Akhilesh tried to put his weight behind Tejashwi Yadav in Bihar in 2025 and Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal in 2026. Both of them lost miserably. On the contrary, Yogi Adityanath is the most demanded star pracharak after the central leadership, sought by BJP MLA candidates across states.
Fearing sharp debates with Yogi Adityanath in the UP Assembly, Akhilesh has left that arena and moved to Parliament. With 36-44 per cent attendance in Parliament and hardly any presence on the ground, Akhilesh doesn’t seem to inspire any confidence among prospective voters.
Battle for UP 2027 will be epic
Electoral battles of 2026 are now settled. In Assam and Puducherry, the NDA rode on a pro-incumbency wave. Stalin and Mamata have been thrown out of power after long years. Kerala followed its usual cycle of power alternation between UDF and LDF.
In 2027, many state electoral battles are coming up. Early 2027 will see elections in UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa, followed by Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh towards the end of the year.
The battle for UP is the epic one among these because of the sheer size of the state. Yogi Adityanath represents solid governance, robust law and order, an investment-friendly UP, along with massive cultural revival of the state. He is consistently ranked at the top as the most popular chief minister in India Today’s ‘Mood of the Nation’ survey.
In contrast, after snatching the Samajwadi Party from his father and uncle Shivpal, Akhilesh’s electoral record is dismal. Under him, the Samajwadi Party lost the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2017 and 2022 Assembly elections. After 2017, Akhilesh lost all urban and rural local body elections. In 2024, the Samajwadi Party did create some confusion in the electorate about the Constitution and reservations and gained some ground. But such tricks don’t give long-term rewards. In by-elections a couple of months later, the people of UP made a course correction and voted BJP back even in SP bastions like Kundarki.
With his friends Stalin and Mamata voted out, Akhilesh will have to do far more than his usual ‘Muslim plus Yadav’ formula politics. Just renaming it to PDA won’t help much.
Shantanu Gupta is the author of ‘The Monk Who Became Chief Minister’, a biography of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. He tweets @shantanug_. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)