A war of words between Yogi and Akhilesh, the mafia and the abbot
Math, mafia and abbot… echoes of these three words have been heard in Uttar Pradesh politics for the past few days. The reason is the presence of two big faces in the circle of these three words. The first face is of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the second is of Akhilesh Yadav.
While on one hand Akhilesh Yadav is targeting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath through the monastery and abbot, on the other hand Yogi Adityanath is accusing UP CM Akhilesh of running a mafia regime. Interestingly, this fight between the two big leaders has started when by-elections are to be held in 10 assembly seats in UP.
How did the war of words begin?
On 4 September 2024, Akhilesh Yadav speaking at the SP office against the action of bulldozers said that bulldozers do not have eyes and ears. Bulldozers can also move towards Gorakhpur in case of change of government. In response, Yogi Adityanath said that it takes heart and soul to drive a bulldozer.
Since then, the war of words has been going on between the two leaders. While exposing the Ayodhya land scam on September 12, Akhilesh had said that there is not much difference between the mafia and the abbot.
On September 18, Yogi attacked Akhilesh during a rally in Milkipur, Ayodhya. Yogi said that SP government is run by mafia. Baba used to rub his nose against the mafia, that’s why he doesn’t understand the difference between mafia and saints.
On September 19, when journalists asked about this in the SP office, Akhilesh sarcastically said, “Take the picture of me and the Chief Minister and tell me who looks like a mafia?”
Akhilesh wrote in a post today on September 20, “Know the saint by language, clever Anant in the guise of a saint.”
Why is Akhilesh raising his voice on Yogi?
The first reason is the proposed assembly by-election. The Samajwadi Party has got a big lead in the Lok Sabha elections. SP-led Bharatiya Janata Party won 43 out of 80 seats in UP. This is considered a setback for BJP. By-elections are to be held on 10 assembly seats after the Lok Sabha elections.
It is being said that to recover from the defeat in the Lok Sabha, the BJP has prepared a strategy to perform well in the by-elections. Yogi Adityanath has the responsibility of the entire by-election. Yogi himself is in charge of 2 hot seats Milkipur and Katheri.
If the SP does not win as expected in the assembly by-elections after the Lok Sabha, questions will be raised about the party’s mission-2027, so Akhilesh Yadav’s target is Yogi Adityanath.
The policy of consolidating the image of Hindutva into one community- When the BJP announced Yogi Adityanath as the Chief Minister in 2017, it was said that the BJP wanted to advance the Hindutva strategy. This strategy was successful in 2019 and 2022, but in 2024 BJP did not get the expected results.
BJP has also lost Ayodhya’s Faizabad seat. Happy with this election result, Akhilesh now wants to break Yogi Adityanath’s image of Hindutva.
Akhilesh wants to project Yogi as a community leader. It is being said that this is the reason why Akhilesh Math, mafia and Thakur politics are targeting Yogi.
Akhilesh recently released a report on UP’s Special Task Force, which said that only 10 percent of the force is from the PDA. The remaining 90 percent of the officers belong to the upper caste community.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has long been accused of promoting Thakurism, but after the Lok Sabha, Akhilesh is trying to fend off his Hindutva image.
Supporting the ideology and work of Guru Gorakhnath- Yogi Adityanath is Gorakspithadhiswar. Before this, Guru Gorakhnathji belonged to the Nath sect. According to SP spokesperson IP Singh, Yogi Adityanath hails from Gorakhpeeth and is the head of the Math, hence the SP chief called him Mathadhish.
Akhilesh also said during a program at the SP office that one who gets angry, who does not understand the suffering of people, how can he be a monk and a saint?
For a long time, the opposition has been trying to corner Yogi Adityanath through his cult. RJD supremo Lalu Yadav wrote an article on Yogi’s participation in the prana pratistha of Ram temple.
According to Lalu, the Mahatmas of the Nath sect did not believe in idolatry and Brahmanism, but Yogis do not refrain from doing so.
What equation is Yogi setting up?
By talking up the mafia, UP CM Yogi Adityanath is revamping his law and order image. Mafia has been on Yogi’s radar since he became Chief Minister in 2017. During this period, many mafias have fallen into the hands of the government and perished, while many are in surrender mode on their own.
Where will this war of words end?
There is little chance of stopping the war of words between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Akhilesh Yadav. Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in UP later this year. It is being said that if the situation remains the same even after the by-elections, the war of words between the two may continue till the 2027 assembly elections.
The constituencies in UP where the assembly by-elections are scheduled include Milkipur, Katehari, Kundarki, Karhal, Kher, Mirapur, Phulpur, Ghaziabad, Sisam and Majwan.
In 2022, out of these 10 seats, Samajwadi Party won 5 seats, BJP 3 seats and RLD-Nishad Party one seat each.
