A brake on the bulldozer in Uttar Pradesh
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Following the BJP’s dismal performance in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls, it seems that in its bid to dismantle mafia empires and free government land of illegal encroachments, Yogi Adityanath’s bulldozer crashed into the political interests of the party and its allies
BJP supporters with earth-mover bulldozers attend a public meeting of Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath (unseen) for the Assembly elections at Domariaganj village, in Sidharth Nagar. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP described the improved law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh under the Yogi Adityanath government as an important cog in keeping the ‘double engine’ government on track.
However, following the BJP’s dismal performance in the State in the Lok Sabha polls, it seems that in its bid to dismantle mafia empires and free government land of illegal encroachments, Mr. Adityanath’s bulldozer crashed into the political interests of the party and its allies.
It would appear that, in the hands of a bureaucracy eager to put the stamp of Bulldozer Baba on the ground, government machinery has found that its own script is not always aligned with the goals of Hindutva.
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It reflected in the opposition to the Nazul Land Bill by the BJP legislators, including the BJP State chief Bhupendra Chaudhary, which forced the government to refer it to a select committee. The Bill notified as an Ordinance in March, prohibits the conversion of Nazul land, State-owned land that is not directly managed as State property, into freehold for private individuals. The contention is on a provision allowing the government to terminate existing leases based on compliance with lease terms.
The stated aim is to reclaim land from the mafia but the party seems wary of the implementation. During the Assembly polls, bulldozers were showcased at Mr. Adityanath’s rallies across the State, symbolising his idea of instant and visible justice. At one rally in eastern Uttar Pradesh, this journalist asked small shopkeepers who had visibly encroached on the road if they feared the yellow machines. They said the bulldozers were meant to show only the Muslim squatters their place.
However, during the campaign for 2024, it became clear that the bulldozer’s impact was not unidimensional. BJP MP Brijbhushan Sharan Singh criticised his government for demolishing homes of the poor without due process, arguing that officials who allowed illegal construction should be held accountable.
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BJP ally and Union Minister Anupriya Patel has described the Bill as against the sentiments of the people. Another key partner Sanjay Nishad, has held the berserk bulldozer responsible for the NDA’s poor performance in the State.
A section of the BJP cadre felt the administration’s high-handedness and using the bulldozer for posturing negatively impacted the Hindutva experiment. In March, a Prajapati Samaj Yatra was lathi-charged by Uttar Pradesh Police for rioting. The Prajapatis fall into the Most Backward Caste bracket and were successfully brought into the BJP fold before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
However, the community felt their demands for greater electoral representation and SC status were unmet. The lathi charge meant that the president of Prajapati Mahasabha contested and secured over 140,000 votes on the BSP ticket. Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan’s margin of defeat was around 24,000 votes.
It is not that the previous dispensations were impervious to paper leaks and job irregularities but students and teachers could raise their voices in front of the Vidhan Sabha. Now they run the risk of life and limb and being branded anarchists or andolanjeevi.
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That Mr. Adityanath is not keen on taking the foot off the accelerator became clear when an impractical order of Muzaffarnagar Police asking eatery owners to put their nameplates on their establishments was given backing by the CMO before the Supreme Court granted a stay.
Several non-Muslim owners have let out their eateries to Muslim vendors and some Muslim owners have non-Muslim partners and workers. Not all eateries have proper papers and many fear that an order on nameplates opens their gate for official scrutiny and rent-seeking. Many non-Muslim food stall owners from marginalised communities complained that the order meant more visits by officials which invariably meant free lunches.
From time to time, vernacular papers reported that local BJP leaders were meeting deputy Chief Ministers to complain about officials’ cavalier attitudes in the name of creating smart cities and crime control. Insiders say that this voice from the ground eventually got reflected in Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s speech during a review meeting when he said that the organisation is bigger than the government or when he flagged “rising corruption” while addressing senior police officials to salvage the situation before the bypolls.
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Uttar Pradesh
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state politics
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Bharatiya Janata Party