Bodies floating in rivers, corpses buried under riverbeds, crematoriums overflowing, people crying for oxygen and hospital beds, a government twisting the knife into the gaping wound by threatening sufferers into silence, but Yogi Adityanath has managed the pandemic “quite effectively”.

The assessment of performance has been made by a central BJP leader who had been sent to Uttar Pradesh to gauge the organisational preparedness before the Assembly elections due early next year. The unequivocal praise from B.L. Santhosh, the BJP national general secretary in charge of organisation, suggested that the party’s top leadership had reposed faith in Hindutva poster boy Adityanath.

“In five weeks, @myogiadityanath’s Uttar Pradesh reduced the new daily case count by 93%.… Remember it’s a state with a 20+ crore population. When municipality CMs couldn’t manage a city of 1.5 cr population, Yogiji managed quite effectively,” Santhosh tweeted late on Tuesday night.

There was more applause in store for Adityanath. Santhosh tweeted on Wednesday: “UP govt led by CM Sri @myogiadityanath decides to vaccinate parents of children below 12 years. A wise move considering the logic that if at all third wave comes it may affect children more. Parents will be around to look after more safely.”

Besides conveniently sweeping under the carpet the glaring evidence of gross mismanagement of the pandemic, Santhosh’s tweets also meant the central leadership had no intention of bringing about a change of leadership in the sprawling heartland state despite widespread discontent among the BJP rank and file over Adityanath’s autocratic ways and the handling of Covid.

Santhosh reviewed over two days the Uttar Pradesh government’s and the BJP’s preparedness for the Assembly elections along with former Union minister Radha Mohan Singh, the party’s minder for the state.

BJP leaders in Uttar Pradesh said that during the meetings held over Monday and Tuesday, Santhosh indirectly made it clear that the party would go to the polls under the leadership of Adityanath and asked everyone to ensure better coordination between the government and the party to win the trust of the people.

Ironically, it had been reports of despair and helplessness and widespread criticism of the Adityanath government over its tackling of the pandemic that had apparently prompted the central leadership to rush Santhosh and Singh to Uttar Pradesh for the stock-taking exercise.

Several of the BJP’s own ministers and MLAs have been resentful of the administration’s handling of the situation.

“What stature do MLAs have? If I speak too much, sedition charges could be slapped on me,” BJP MLA Rakesh Rathore had told reporters in May when asked what he had done to operationalise a trauma centre in his constituency, Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh.

Union labour minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, too had written to Adityanath, complaining that officials had been unresponsive to the woes of Covid-affected people. Many other BJP leaders have publicly aired their views on how the state government had been missing in action when Covid cases surged.

The certificate of excellence from Santhosh, who is said to enjoy the confidence of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, has glossed over the many apparent failings of Adityanath, the saffron-robed temple mahant known for his vitriolic and communally charged utterances and iron-fisted rule.

Attacks on Muslims, who make up over 20 per cent of Uttar Pradesh’s population, and their systematic targeting have become a routine affair in the state. The assault has continued even during the pandemic and Muslims fear it could intensify in the run-up to the polls to polarise voters.

The administration of Barabanki district recently razed a mosque, terming it an illegal construction despite a court order to keep in abeyance any demolition during the pandemic.

A Muslim meat trader was beaten up by a cow vigilante group in Moradabad and a vegetable vendor in Unnao died recently after the police thrashed him.

Adityanath, however, appears to have gone from strength to strength within the party. Prime Minister Modi often addresses him as “yashashwi aur lokpriya mukhyamantri (glorious and popular chief minister)”.