Lucknow: “Ek haath mein shaastra hai jiske, shastra doosre haath hai” — scripture in one hand, weapon in the other. That’s how a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaign song released Thursday describes Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, with an image of him holding a gun at the foundation laying ceremony of the BrahMos Aerospace cruise missile manufacturing unit in Lucknow in December last year.
The song also depicts the new Kashi Vishwanath corridor, smiling holy men, the state government’s action against alleged mafia don-turned-politician Atique Ahmed, and infrastructure projects such as the Purvanchal Expressway and the Jewar airport. The two planks of Hindutva and development are in evidence in this pitch, released ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, voting for which begins on 10 February.
CM Adityanath followed up the song’s launch with a speech attacking opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party (SP) — which Thursday filed a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) against language used by the chief minister in the campaign.
Turning the page on the churn within the state BJP — with the desertion of 14 MLAs from the party, including three ministers, in the run-up to the polls — the beginning and end of the song both echo Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s endorsement of Adityanath as the BJP’s chief ministerial face in Uttar Pradesh.
“Vo param satya hai, Kashi me jo kehke gaye hain Modi…UP me Yogi hai upyogi (It is an absolute truth, what Modi has said in Kashi, that Yogi comes in handy in UP),” goes the first line of the song, which includes several images of the Kashi Vishwanath corridor, along with the site for the Ram temple in Ayodhya. The “upyogi” slogan was raised by the PM at the foundation laying ceremony of the Ganga Expressway in December last year.
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Lambasting the opposition
Soon after the launch of the song Thursday at the BJP office in Lucknow, Adityanath presented a report card of his five-year rule of the state, which has never given a second consecutive term to a chief minister.
Repeatedly referring to the BJP’s refrain of a “double-engine government” at central and state levels, Adityanath launched an all-out attack on the erstwhile governments of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He used data to claim that his regime had seen more development on the economics, law and order, and infrastructure fronts than the previous administrations.
“During the BSP government between 2007 and 2012, 364 riots were witnessed, while during the SP administration between 2012 and 2017, 700 big riots were witnessed. But since then, no riots or terror acts have taken place in the state,” Adityanath said, addressing the press in a speech that went on for more than an hour and a quarter. He added that 155 criminals had been killed in encounters across the state during his rule.
Adityanath specifically targeted the SP government led by former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who has now emerged as his leading rival in the coming polls.
“Earlier, in the name of development, money used to be divided between a few. And if I may say so, if one wants to see the development that took place during the SP regime, it is not visible anywhere but the walls of the kabristan,” he said, continuing his theme of accusing the SP of favouring Muslims and even being “worshippers” of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
The song also has references to news reports about alleged scams during the previous governments.
CM using undemocratic language, says SP, complains to EC
Taking affront, the SP Thursday approached the Election Commission (EC), seeking directions from the poll body to stop the “continuous” use of “undemocratic” language by the CM.
Specifically mentioning a remark that Adityanath had made in Agra — “10 March ke baad bulldozer chalega (bulldozers will run after 10 March, election result day)” — and calling it a “threat”, the SP said in the complaint, accessed by ThePrint, that the CM had continuously referred to the party’s leadership as goonda, mavaali and mafia.
“In his meetings in Meerut’s Sivalkhas and Kithor on 1 February, the CM said ‘Laal topi, matlab dabangai (red cap means hooliganism), history-sheeter’, and in Muzaffaragar’s Kairana, he remarked ‘Jo garmi dikhayi de rahi hai vo sab shaant ho jayegi (Those raging will become calm)’,” the party said
“The remarks like ‘I know how to calm those raging’, are undemocratic, and he is continuously using threatening language,” alleged the SP complaint submitted to the EC Thursday.
It added that using “indecent language” against political opponents cannot be justified, despite the hustle of elections. It adds that a person holding a constitutional post such as that of chief minister cannot be expected to use such “undignified language and behaviour”.
Speaking to ThePrint, SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary, who filed the complaint, said, “There is no end to this. How should we end this? They are saying all this so that we continue to talk on these lines. They are holding to it because last time, this narrative worked for them. We can only complain to the EC.”
“Despite the fact that so much work happened during Akhilesh Yadav’s rule, they are continuing to say all this and harp on the work done by the SP government. Only the public can put an end to this,” he said.
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)
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