Yogi Adityanath: UP setback may impact dreams of national role

Along with PM Narendra Modi, Yogi Adityanath helmed the BJP’s campaign in Uttar Pradesh. With a five-year term as chief minister of India’s most politically significant state between 2017 and 2022, the BJP’s success in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and in the state assembly elections in 2022 when he led the state, his second ongoing stint as CM, his connect with the party’s core Hindutva base, his administrative record of law and order that included tools such as “bulldozer justice” targeted at minorities, and policy measures to woo private capital, Adityanath, 51, was in the process of projecting himself as the next generation leader of the BJP, ready for a national role.

But the 2024 verdict has a message for him: Not so soon.

The setback in UP, where the BJP has seen a fairly dramatic reduction in vote share along with a dip in seat tally, is a setback for the BJP’s national leadership including Modi, who is a candidate from the state and campaigned extensively. But it also reflects poorly on Adityanath, who played a key role in determining the tone and tenor of the campaign and its strategy, of which anti-Muslim sloganeering was a key component. The fact that BJP has lost in every region in the state and that anecdotal reporting from the ground showed disillusionment with governments both at the Centre and the state means that if the CM wants to remain a key player in the national political battle in the future, he needs to hunker down and make corrections both in terms of accommodating all social groups and addressing economic discontent. The UP CM may have his eyes on 2029 and 2034, but before that, there is 2027 — and success in the assembly polls will be a prerequisite for any future political growth for the mahant from Gorakhpur.