The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh appears to be a great votary of truth. This would have been a virtue but for the fact that the truth Yogi Adityanath seeks to endorse is rather grey. Speaking in the state assembly on the opening day of the winter session, Mr Adityanath castigated the Congress and the Samajwadi Party for attempting to shut the mouth of someone who was speaking the truth. The speaker of ‘truth’, in this instance, is none other than Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav of the Allahabad High Court who recently courted controversy with his alleged intemperate remarks against Muslims at an event organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Among other things, Mr Yadav, it is being alleged, had made an objectionable comment describing fanatical minorities apart from asserting that the nation ought to be run according to the wishes of the majority community. Fifty-five members of the Opposition, including some Independent parliamentarians, have submitted a notice of impeachment against the judge in the Rajya Sabha. The Supreme Court collegium has summoned Mr Yadav for a meeting besides seeking a report from the Allahabad High Court on his purported remarks. Yet, Mr Adityanath has evidently found nothing wrong with Mr Yadav’s statements. That is perhaps natural. For the chief minister, such prejudicial sentiments are nothing short of the gospel truth.

The irony is that the Constitution, the document that Mr Adityanath and his peers are duty bound to uphold, has no space for the spectres of division and majoritarianism that Mr Yadav sought to propagate. Yet, Mr Adityanath, the holder of a constitutional office, has had no qualms in defending the views of Mr Yadav. It is this kind of political patronage that has been responsible for India witnessing a frightening surge in the targeting of minorities in recent years. But the problem does not lie with the troublesome holders of high office — be they politicians or judges — alone. New India is shockingly receptive to the poisons of hatred and division that are being made to flow through the veins of its body politic. It is this public approval or indifference that makes people like Mr Adityanath and Mr Yadav wear their biases as a badge of dubious honour and breathe fire to singe the nation.