Yogi Adityanath on Thursday became the first chief minister to retain power in Uttar Pradesh after the 1985 assembly elections. After this, ND Tiwari of Congress contested the election by occupying the CM’s chair and won.
Additionally, Yogi Adityanath is the only chief minister of the state to have completed a full five-year term in office, winning the subsequent elections and retaining it.
This is indeed a historic achievement in a state that has seen 21 CMs in the last 70 years. But how did it become possible?
Was Yogi facing pro-incumbency sentiment in the state and rivals’ political opportunism criticizing the mismanagement of the second wave of Covid?
Or was his re-election pushed by the most visible factor in the state – Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav contesting again without the very active support of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav?
governance backbone
The state’s administration faced criticism for its handling of the second wave of the pandemic. This was combined with two other big issues that could easily sabotage the BJP’s prospects in this assembly election – unemployment, and farmers’ protests over the three agricultural laws.
But Yogi Adityanath’s administration decided to quell the criticism only through its performance, according to available data. And SP’s image of being a party supporting ‘goonda’ and ‘mafia’ elements added to the BJP’s election campaign.
The Yogi administration ensured that the social welfare schemes run by the BJP-led Center as well as the schemes launched by the state government reached the masses in a uniform manner. At the same time, it also worked to improve the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, which became a major issue in its favour. Also, the withdrawal of newly enacted agricultural laws by the central government was also a timely move which helped the party. Yes, unemployment is a concern, but it seems voters decided to give the BJP a chance again – based on its better performance than the previous governments and the image of the SP.
Law and Order – tightening the grip
Law and order was a major problem in the state. Bihar as well as Uttar Pradesh is seen at the top of India’s crime index and Akhilesh Yadav’s SP was consistently called a ‘goonda’ party. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, UP was one of the states most affected by violent crimes and gender violence in India. This had a direct impact on its social and economic indicators.
Yogi seems to have done a good job on this front after five years. In the four-year period from 2016 to 2020, incidents of violent crime like murder decreased by about 23%, for which NCRB data is available. There was also a significant drop of 30% in kidnapping and abduction cases.
Gender violence was a curse in the state but such cases have seen a sharp decline. From 2016 to 2020, there was a 43% reduction in rape cases and a huge 87% decline in rape cases. Simultaneously, women are feeling more secure by taking a tough stand against miscreants, which has resulted in a 48 per cent reduction in acid attacks on women.
A tighter grip on law and order and a significant reduction in incidents of gender violence meant that the BJP and Yogi enjoyed greater support from women voters in the state, who make up 46.5% of UP’s voters.
It also meant a smooth improvement in social welfare and economic development which ensured better support from the overall categories of voters.
Goodwill from social welfare schemes
According to Uttar Pradesh MSME Minister Siddharth Nath Singh, the state saw around 44 lakh migrant workers returning home during the first and second Covid waves. The state government launched its own ration schemes, combined it with the Centre’s free ration scheme, and ensured last mile distribution to poor people during the pandemic. Along with this, he also used to get one thousand rupees a month. With the delivery of ‘Pucca Ghar’, it made a clear difference in their lives.
With the support of silent women voters and the success of the central government’s social welfare schemes, the BJP has, in fact, gone a step ahead in its social restructuring efforts this time – by adding women voters of caste and community to non-Yadav and non-Yadav. -Jatav Voters – Be in MNREGA or Pandemic support or Triple Talaq law.
Read also | Yogi Adityanath on BJP retaining power in Uttar Pradesh: People have voted for nationalism, good governance
About 21% of PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana and 11% of MNREGA beneficiary allocation, about 17% of Ujjwala cylinder, 23% of PM-Kisan allocation, 17.5% of Jan-Dhan accounts and about 18% of pucca houses to fight the pandemic The state saw some real empowerment for the poor on the ground.
Highways – the mirage of development turned into reality
Trains, air services, metropolis are all important elements for social development through connectivity, but roads are the last addition in this map carrying the desired benefits of empowerment, social inclusion and economic development to the last person in the society. A distant, indescribable village.
But last year’s Uttar Pradesh was known for its bad roads.
And the present government of the state has worked on this front – to link villages with cities, to reduce migration and to advance development. The state has connected more than 15,000 km of rural roads in the last five years.
Add to this the number of highways and expressways and we see the potential for rapid social and industrial development in the days to come. The state is expected to get over 2,200 km of expressways in the next two to three years – if we count the work completed and the ongoing work at the planning stage – the longest in India, making Uttar Pradesh now an “expressway state”. “It is called. “In a big change to it, by many.
AKHILESH YADAV SANS MULAYAM TOUCH
Akhilesh Yadav Could not adequately carry forward the legacy of his father and former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. A mass leader and a follower of Ram Manohar Lohia, Mulayam created the Muslim-Yadav (MY) voter combination in the state and ruled thrice.
Akhilesh needed to build on this, especially after the BJP’s social restructuring efforts in Uttar Pradesh under Narendra Modi since 2014, with upper-caste votes to capture non-Yadav and non-Jatav voters. To make a winning combination. But Akhilesh failed to capitalize on it, facing the fourth electoral defeat of his political career as the youngest chief minister of the state at the age of 38.
Mulayam Singh Yadav has not been the campaign face for the SP since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections due to family differences and this coincided with the party’s electoral losses in the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections and the 2017 and 2022 assembly elections, some of which raises questions. On Akhilesh’s political vision and his future plans.
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