From cleaning garbage to mafia: In Uttar Pradesh local body polls, Yogi Adityanath sets tone for 2024

His public meetings are backed by “video campaigns” by the state BJP’s official Youtube channel, linking “mafia and criminals” – especially Atiq Ahmed and Mukhtar Ansari – with Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. It is the criminals who are wishing for the comeback of “Akhilesh”, the BJP continuously states.

Commencing his campaign in Gorakhpur on Sunday, Akhilesh Yadav took on the Chief Minister on both the cleanliness and law and order planks. “People are tired of criminal incidents in the state. The incidents of rape and robbery are at their peak,” he said, and claimed that the BJP had failed to get garbage removed and drains cleaned in the cities over the last six years.

With 4-5 public meetings every day, Adityanath’s framing of the election debate has, however, been about the security of the common man and his government’s tight grip over law and order. In many meetings, he asked the crowd to convert “double engine government” (both at the state and the Centre) into a “triple engine government” and sought a majority in the “shahar ki sarkar” as well.

Stating that the state’s only objective is to get the cities rid of both “garbage and criminals”, in almost all meetings, Adityanath tells the public how “mafia” elements are begging for their lives in Uttar Pradesh and how there is no one left to even cry over them, even as he cites development initiatives of his government for that region.

On April 24, the Chief Minister held three public meetings in Saharanpur, Shamli and Amroha districts of Western Uttar Pradesh. Addressing one in Shamli, he told the crowd they must have noticed that not just the mafia and criminals, but even their sympathisers have vanished today. “Un par koi do boonnd aansu bahane wala bhi nahi hai (There is no one even to shed tears for them),” he said.

Seeking support of BJP candidates in Amroha, the city known for “dholak” (drums), Adityanath said while locals have kept the traditional instrument like drums alive, “humnein bhi dholak bajakar mafia ko rasatal mein pahunchane ka kaam kiya hai (We have also worked to beat the mafia and sent them to abyss).” In Saharanpur, he said, “No curfew, no danga, UP mein sab changa (No curfew, no riots, all is well in UP).”

Moving to central UP the second day on April 25, he addressed public meetings in Rae Bareli, Unnao and Lucknow. He continued to underline his ‘bulldozer baba’ image. “Mafia kehta hai jaan baksha do, thela lagakar ji lunga (Mafia begs for life, let me be a street vendor and survive),” he said in Rae Bareli. In another meeting the same day in Unnao, he claimed how people associated with one particular party used to flaunt country-made weapons before 2017. “2017 ke pehle, party vishesh se jure logon ke haath mein tamanche hote they,” he said.

His meetings on April 27 in Mathura, Firozabad and Agra had the same tone. “Humari sarkar ki ek hi yukti, apradhi aur gandagi se mile Pradesh ko mukti (Our Government has only one objective – to clear the state of criminals and filth),” said Adityanath. In Agra, he said, the youth of the city have “tablets” and not “tamanche”.

The next day, he was in Sitapur, Lakhimpur, Balrampur and Gorakhpur. Referring to the local body elections in Sitapur as “dev-asur sangram (the contest between gods and demons)”, he described the mafia, criminal, corrupt and miscreants as the faces of demons. In Gorakhpur, he claimed that caste-based politics not just failed the people but also gave rise to criminals and mafias in the state.

In his public meetings in Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Deoria, Kushinagar and Varanasi, on Saturday, Adityanath referred to the kidnapping of Nand Kishore Rungta (a businessman, he was kidnapped in January 1997) and promised that no mafia or criminal can roam freely on the streets and dare to kidnap now.