Why So Much Fuss Over A Yogi?

It isn't a big deal for a chief minister if he chooses to transform his public appearance. But the Adityanath phenomenon has once again exposed the faultlines of a confused Hindi heartland. Publicly, many of Indian public detest Lutyens' Delhi for all its symbolism. Privately, they just can't digest a saffron-clad, non-English-speaking ascetic settling down as a decision-maker in power politics. This defect is genetic.

- Nilabh Krishna

The BJP victory in Uttar Pradesh has shaken up the media and other political parties not only on account of the scale of the victory, but also its aftermath. In what many people term a "surgical strike", Yogi Adityanath has been chosen the Chief Minister, shocking many, with the Leftists calling it a diabolical move. Many immediately branded him as "communal", a "bigot", "a Hindu fundamentalist", etc without even giving the new Chief Minister a chance to explain his agenda. Typical parts of the media, who have attributed to themselves the right to decide for the rest of us, are playing the role of the opposition, and some expressed concern whether certain communities will feel threatened. Broadly, there are three sets of people divided vertically over Adityanath as compared to the two, which have been split over Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Liberals and secularists have been opposing while corporates and pro- Hindutva advocates have been supporting Modi ad nauseam since the Anna Hazare protests scripted the fall of Manmohan Singh's government.

In Adityanath's case, a third category of Indians has overnight become too vocal to be ignored. It's a massive bloc of Indians carrying a DNA heavily hung over by British colonialism. Adityanath also doesn't fit into the all-pervasive American narrative in which capitalism--and not religion or culture- -is the central subject.