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Atiq Ahmad, mafia, garbage: How Yogi Adityanath, BJP are setting narrative for 2024 through UP civic poll campaigns
UP civic polls: In 19 rallies held in seven days, Yogi Adityanath mentioned terms such “mafia”, “criminal”, “riot”, “goonda”, “tamancha”.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are still some months to go, but the Bharatiya Janata Party and chief minister Yogi Adityanath, it seems, have already set the party's narrative for the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh through their rallies ahead of the state civic polls scheduled to be held in two phases on May 4 and 11.
In 19 rallies held in just seven days, Adityanath fiercely mentioned terms such “mafia”, “criminal”, “riot”, “goonda”, “tamancha” (country-made pistol), and “cleanliness”. These rallies are seen as significant as they came even as gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were shot dead last month, while Mukhtar Ansari, another mafia-turned-politician, was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment recently.
Adityanath has been actively promoting the achievements of the BJP government in reducing crime rates and cracking down on mafia, while also targeting the Samajwadi Party on the issue.
During his public meetings on April 24 in Saharanpur, Shamli, and Amroha, he emphasised the government's efforts to curb criminal activities. Live Hindustan reported.
In Shamli, he mentioned that the government has taken action against not only mafia and criminals but also other wrongdoers. In Amroha, he referred to the local Dholak instrument, stating that they have managed to take the mafia down to the abyss by playing the drum.
Meanwhile, in Saharanpur, he assured the people that the state is free of curfews and riots.
The chief minister continued his "Bulldozer Baba" image during his visits to Rae Bareli, Unnao, Lucknow, Mathura, Firozabad, Agra, Sitapur, Lakhimpur, Balrampur, and Gorakhpur, emphasising his government's focus on removing criminals and corruption from the state, the report added.
Mentions of Atiq and Mukhtar
The UP BJP is also raising the issue of mafia and criminals on social media. The party is showing strings between the Samajwadi Party and criminals such as Atiq and Mukhtar. The BJP alleged that only criminals want Akhilesh's return.
Akhilesh hit back
Akhilesh Yadav had raised questions on the issue of law and order and cleanliness on the BJP government during campaigning in Gorakhpur on Sunday. “People are fed up with the criminal incidents in the state. The incidents of rape and theft are at their peak. He also claimed that the BJP has failed to remove the garbage in the last 6 years,” he had said. '
BJP names 19 Muslim candidates in Aligarh
The BJP has thrown a surprise by giving tickets to 19 Muslim corporator candidates in Aligarh in a move that some called ‘strategic’ made for political gains.
The Aligarh Municipal Corporation, which has 90 wards, will go to polls in the second phase of urban local body elections on May 11. In the last civic elections in 2017, the BJP lost the Aligarh mayor seat to Bahujan Samaj Party’s Mohammad Furqan.
In all, 17 municipal corporations, 199 municipal councils and 439 nagar panchayats would elect their new representatives. The number of urban bodies has gone up by 107 -- from 653 to 760 -- this time.
The counting of votes for the civic elections will be held on May 13.
