Yogi Adityanath released a pre-dawn video on Thursday a few hours before polling began in the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, warning people the state would “become Kashmir, Bengal or Kerala” if they failed to vote for the BJP.
“The labour of five years (of Adityanath’s rule) will be washed away if you err this time. Uttar Pradesh will become Kashmir, Bengal or Kerala in no time,” the BJP chief minister said in Hindi in the 5:54-minute video, posted from his Twitter handle around 3.07am.
Adityanath didn’t spell out what was wrong with the three states he had derided. Officials of the state information department shared it on WhatsApp in their personal capacities.
A chief minister making disparaging remarks on other states also negates federalism. Prime Minster Narendra Modi had earlier this week sought to defend his government’s record on federalism after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had made the constitutional concept of “Union of States” the cornerstone of his speech in the Lok Sabha.
The video brought sharp rejoinders from political opponents in Kerala and Bengal.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan tweeted in Hindi and English: “If UP turns into Kerala as @myogiadityanath fears, it will enjoy the best education, health services, social welfare, living standards and have a harmonious society in which people won’t be murdered in the name of religion and caste. That’s what the people of UP would want.”
Trinamul state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said Adityanath was “stooping to such nonsense” because he had “smelt defeat”.
“His government failed monumentally in managing the pandemic and (families in Uttar Pradesh) threw human bodies into the Ganga, while our government kept performing the last rites of those that made it to Bengal,” Ghosh said.
The Niti Aayog’s SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Index for 2020-21 has Kerala topping among the 28 states with a score of 75. Bengal (62) ranks 18 while Uttar Pradesh (60) is joint fourth from bottom, ahead only of Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam. Jammu and Kashmir, with a fairly high score of 66, is joint sixth among the eight Union Territories.
Kerala has over the years topped most health, literacy and Human Development Index charts.
Several critics pointed to these statistics to argue that Adityanath wanted Uttar Pradesh to remain backward forever.
Congress veteran Dwijendra Tripathi said: “Clearly, Adityanath is saying that people should keep voting for the BJP to keep Uttar Pradesh poor and backward. Perhaps he also wants to say that Muslims would become safe if the people didn’t vote for the BJP.”
In Kerala and Bengal, Opposition parties too chided Adityanath.
Kerala leader of the Opposition, V.D. Satheesan of the Congress, tweeted: “Dear #UP, vote to be like Kerala. Choose plurality, harmony, inclusive development to medieval bigotry. Keralites, Bengalis and Kashmiris are also proud Indians.”
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said Adityanath’s comment stemmed from the fear of losing if Uttar Pradesh turned into another Kerala, which has not a single MLA from the BJP.
In Bengal, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused Adityanath of “clinging to the hackneyed politics of polarisation”.
“He is totally unaware of Bengal and its complex, exemplary ethos. He has insulted Bengal through this narrow-minded statement,” Chowdhury said.
CPM Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya said: “It’s a direct threat to the electors. What is the role of the Election Commission of India in this? Why is it silent?”
In the video, Adityanath followed Prime Minister Modi in raising the bogey of mafia rule if the BJP lost the election.
“Today I have only one concern — that the rioters and criminals whom we have tamed are desperate now. The terrorists are repeatedly threatening us, saying ‘Let the (new) government come’,” he said.
“I have done five years of tapasya and your blessings are there (for me). However, it should be kept in mind that there should be the guarantee of a life without fear in the coming years.”
Adityanath claimed the BJP’s “double-engine” government had kept all its promises, provided 24 hours’ electricity in the villages — a tall claim going by ground realities — and built crores of toilets at homes.
He concluded with “Jai jai Shri Ram”.
Voting started at 7am in 58 Assembly seats in western Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
