Lucknow: There is hope in eastern UP and a sense of unease in the rest of the state. There is also an element of apprehension within the BJP.
The appointment of Mahant Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister — now known as Adityanath Yogi — has filled the Purvanchal region with hope.
Adityanath, the Mahant of the Goraksh Peeth in Gorakhpur, is already known for his philanthropic works that include running a 350-bed hospital that is open for all, irrespective of caste and religion, and also a kids’ care centre. His associates claim that Yogi’s administrative skills have been perfectly honed since he has been managing the various projects of the Goraksh Peeth and makes sure that there are no lapses.
The people of Purvanchal are now confident that the area will get the much needed development because Yogi is familiar with the problems of the region and has always focused his politics on this region.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Rajnath Singh and now the Chief Minister also belonging to Purvanchal, development cannot and will not be allowed to take a back seat any longer.
Muslims in eastern UP are not apprehensive of Yogi Adityanath because they have already made peace with his brand of politics.
“He does not trouble Muslims unless they trouble him. He helps Muslims who approach him with their problems but does not tolerate the misdeeds of the community — whether it is eve-teasing or land grabbing. His image of a Hindu hardliner has been cultivated by him and he carefully maintains it,” says Jamshed Khan, a journalist.
However, the sense of unease in the rest of Uttar Pradesh is also palpable and the reason for this is that Yogi Adityanath, till now, has only been known for his controversial communal statements — whether it is equating Shah Rukh Khan with Hafiz Saeed or putting Kairana at par with Kashmir or his views on ‘love jihad’ and ‘Ghar Vapsi’.
The Yogi also hit the headlines when he changed the names of places with Muslim names in Gorakhpur. Miyan Bazaar was changed to Maya Bazaar, Urdu Bazar to Hindi Bazaar and Ali Nagar became Arya Nagar.
Interestingly, Yogi’s appointment as CM had raised some apprehension within his own party. Some leaders feel that since the Chief Minister as well as both the deputy chief ministers lack any sort of administrative experience, handling such a populous state would be a Herculean task.
21st UP CM to lead 46 ministers
BJP leader Yogi Adityanath, dressed in saffron robes, was sworn in as the 21st chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Sunday. He will now be known as Adityanath Yogi.
Mr Keshav Prasad Maurya and Mr Dinesh Sharma were sworn in as Deputy Chief Ministers along 44 other ministers. Twenty-two cabinet ministers, nine ministers of state with independent charge and 13 ministers of state were administrated the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Ram Naik.
Within hours of taking the oath, the new chief minister of UP asked all his ministers to give details about their movable and immovable assets to the CM’s secretariat as well as the party office within 15 days.
Adityanath Yogi has also directed all ministers to refrain from making statements that could hurt the sentiments of any section of the people. In a brief interaction with the media, he said the party manifesto, or “Sankalp Patra”, would be implemented in letter and spirit at the earliest.
Five leaders who were sworn in — including the chief minister, both deputy chief ministers and one minister of state with independent charge (Swatantra Dev Singh) and one minister of state (Mohsin Raza) — are not members of the state legislature. A surprise omission was Pankaj Singh, son of union home minister Rajnath Singh, though Sandeep Singh, grandson of Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, was made minister of state. The BJP has successfully tried to ensure a caste balance between upper castes and OBCs and also regional representation, apart from giving importance to senior leaders along with those who came in from outside.
One Muslim leader, Mohsin Raza, was also included in the council of ministers. The BJP had faced flak for not giving a single ticket to a Muslim in the assembly elections. A Sikh MLA Baldev Singh Olakh was also among those who sworn in.
Leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan, S.P. Singh Baghel and Brajesh Pathak who came in from BSP and Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Nand Gopal Nandi who left the Congress to join the BJP, were included in the cabinet.
The swearing in ceremony was an event marked by grandeur with almost the entire top BJP leadership in attendance.
Former chief ministers Mulayam Singh, Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav were the only leaders from the opposition. Former chief minister N.D. Tiwari was also present on the occasion.
Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Ananth Kumar, Venkaiah Naidu, Uma Bharti, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Kalraj Misra, Anupriya Patel, Mahesh Sharma and V.K. Singh were among the guests.
