Is star campaigner Yogi Adityanath's magic spell wearing off?

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is also the mahant of the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur, was named star campaigner by the BJP. He addressed 74 rallies across four out of the five poll-bound states, with the maximum – 26 – being in Rajasthan.

Adityanath’s total tally is the highest for any star campaigner of the BJP, higher than even Prime Minister Narendra Modi in terms of rallies for these assembly elections.

In fact, despite losing Gorakhpur bypolls to Samajwadi Party’s Praveen Kumar Nishad, Adityanath was made the star campaigner for Karnataka Assembly Polls that were held earlier this year.

However, looking at the results of the elections in these five states, it seems Yogi’s magic couldn’t charm the electorate, at least not as much as he had expected.

Yogi’s speeches reeked of vitriol, cockiness and a smug smile which could be translated to his ability of getting away with whatever he says. On closer look, it can be observed that Adityanath is sent as a frontrunner whenever a matter of faith can be indelicately used for political expediency. In the case of Karnataka, it was the issue of Lingayats being categorised as a separate religion.

In fact, at a rally in Madhya Pradesh, Adityanath said “Aapko Ali Mubarak, hamare liye to Bajrangbali hi kaafi hain”; while in Rajasthan, he courted controversy saying Lord Hanuman was a Dalit as he looked to garner votes from the community.

Constructing the Ram Mandir at the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya seemed to form a major chunk of his speeches. “Congress's politics of appeasement is creating a hurdle in the construction of Ram temple which is an emblem of India's faith," Adityanath was quoted as saying.

He accused the Congress of not taking action on the Ram Mandir issue, when the case has been subjudice for nearly 25 years.

The straw that really broke the camel was Adityanath’s promise (err proposition) to rename Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar, if BJP is voted to power in Telangana.

"If you are keen to rename Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar, then vote for BJP," Adityanath said. "All terror attacks have some link with Hyderabad. Had Muslim appeasement not been part of our politics, such terrorist activities would not have taken place," he added.

However, his blasé tactics don’t seem to be translating into votes. On the contrary, his campaigning is proving to be counter-intuitive where his apathy towards his own state is infuriating the electorate, in particular the Bulandshahr incident. "Uttar Pradesh mein koi mob lynching ki ghatna nahi hui hai... Bulandshahr mein jo hua wo ek durghatna thi (No mob lynching happened in Uttar Pradesh, what happened in Bulandshahr is an accident)," he said.

The BJP needs to reconsider its star campaigners wisely, lest they should lose from the Hindi heartlands at the behest of Yogi.

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