[Adityanath’s template of communalism is Gujarat. Cries of “UP will
also become Gujarat” are common at his rallies.]

https://video.scroll.in/832182/watch-this-documentary-explains-how-up-cm-adityanath-used-communal-poison-to-build-his-politics

COMMUNAL POLITICS

Watch: UP CM Adityanath used communal poison to build his politics and
this documentary shows how
Adityanath has used a virulent brand of Hindutva to build his career.

Yesterday · 10:25 pm.
Scroll Staff

[Video: Not working]

After the Bharatiya Janata Party’s sweeping win in the Uttar Pradesh
Assembly elections, it has at last announced its chief minister: Yogi
Adityanath. Head of the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur, Adityanath is
a Far Right leader known for building his politics on religious
polarisation.

How did Adityanath rise to become the chief minister of India’s most
populous state? This 2011 documentary by Rajiv Yadav, Shahanawaz Alam
and Lakshman Prashad explains Adityanath’s rise from a priest to one
of India’s most powerful politicians.

The film opens with a chilling threat. “If a single Hindu is killed,
we will not go to the authorities, but instead murder 10 people [in
return],” declaims Adityanath fiercely to a large crowd. “We will not
let any tazia processesions take palce inside Gorakhpur city. And
along with these tazias, we will also celebrate our Holi.”

Clearly, Adityanath is unconcerned with even sugar coating his
bigotry. His organisation the Hindu Yuva Vahini is driven by the same
ideology. At a Hindu Yuva Vahini meeting, speaking from the same stage
as Adityanath, a speaker digs even deeper into the violent pysche of
Hindutva: “At present what we need is to dig out the corpses of their
[Muslim] mothers and sisters and rape them.”

The Gujarat model
***Adityanath’s template of communalism is Gujarat. Cries of “UP will
also become Gujarat” are common at his rallies.*** [Emphasis added.]

Adityanath wants Muslims to bow to the Hindu majority. “If any
organisation refuses to chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ or sing Vande
Mataram, like we smashed the Babri Masjid, we will smash it,” the
documentary shows Adityanath saying. A popular chant for BJP workers
in the area: “If you want to live in this area, you’ll have to take
the name of Yogi.”

The documentary points out that the Hindu Yuva Vahini was one of the
accused in the Mau communal riots of 2005. Adityanath was arrested for
causing communal violence – an act which led to more violence, with
his supports setting fire to a train.

His politics means he has changed the history of Gorakhpur to erase
all Muslim influences. Areas such as “Urdu Bazar” have been renamed to
“Hindi Bazar”, “Alinagar” to “Aryanagar” and “Miyan Bazar” to “Maya
Bazar”.

Hindutvaising lower castes
The documentary points out that while he has used his position as the
head priest of the Gorakhnath temple, his ideology goes against the
historical message of its founder. The temple was founded as a
reaction to Brahmanism and once was a multi-faith institution which
included both lower caste Hindus and Muslims.

In 1952, the head priest of the temple, Digvijay fought elections on a
Hindu Mahasabha ticket, effectively ending Muslim participation at the
temple. The institution’s lower caste character in turn was used to
introduce Dalits to Hindutva.

In effect, the Gorakhnath temple, by marrying lower caste mobilisation
and Hindutva provided a template for the massive BJP win in the 2017
Assembly election.



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