Yogi's New Neutral Avatar

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath is into his second term and one of the changes he is ringing in is a softening of the ardent Hindutva warrior image that he has been cultivating all these years.

- Prashant Srivastava

Recently, the CM visited his mother-after five years-in Pauri Garhwal district in Uttarakhand while on a three-day trip to the state. Pictures of Yogi with his mother and of his stay at the ancestral home (after 28 years, say reports) went viral, even eliciting comparisons to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's own infrequent but much publicised visits to his mother. According to party sources, it's all part of an effort to exude a more sensitive and inclusive persona as an administrator.

So, even as the accusations of bulldozer politics' continue, Yogi 2.0 is trying hard to maintain a neutral approach to issues, say the sources. The recent controversy over the loudspeakers at mosques are a case in point.

With the fringe Hindutva right-wing groups raising the pitch on the issue, Yogi ordered the removal of loudspeakers at all religious places and tamping down the volume on announcements. Setting the example was the Gorakhnath temple where Yogi himself is the peethadheeswar (head priest). Loudspeakers have now been removed from thousands of temples, mosques and other religious places. As of now, more than 50,000 have been taken down, while the volume of over 60,000 has been brought down to minimum levels in the state. The state’s ADG (Additional Director General), law and order, Prash­ ant Kumar, says, “We have strictly ensured that loudspeakers are taken down and no one is harassed on the basis of faith.”