Interrogating the claims of law and order in Uttar Pradesh under the Yogi Adityanath regime does merit special mention in terms of presenting an overview. The BJP scored a mammoth majority winning a comfortable two-third majority as people got fed up with misrule and misgovernance of Samajwadi Party despite Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav,s image as a programme and policy performer.
His tenure promised inclusive development for each and every section of the population in tandem with the Lohian tenets of Socialism. His alliance with the Congress went unnoticed as attempts were made by him to bury his differences with uncle Shivpal Yadav. Thus, the Bhartiya Janta Party immensely benefitted from this situation and Yogi Adityanath became the man to handle the charge of running the state bureaucracy and administration.
Politically, what are the differences between the tenure of Akhilesh Yadav and Yogi Adityanath if we were asked to categorize and interrogate the claims of law and order situation in the state? If Samajwadi Party was all about promoting the feudalism of caste rank and hierarchy, the BJP under Yogi is all about drawing a caste-consensus based around Hindutva drawing support by exciting the imaginations of the crowd around the notions of community and culture.
In Uttar Pradesh, the slew of measures adopted by the Yogi government to undertake improvements in the sphere of law and order is simply not enough and sufficient. In September 2018, Apple company executive Vivek Tiwari was said to be intentionally shot by constable Prashant Chaudhary as stated by the SIT in its report. Vivek was moving in an SUV with a former colleague Sana Khan when he was shot in Gomti Nagar locality of Lucknow.
In October 2019, Kamlesh Tiwari the founder of the Hindu Samaj Party was murdered at his house in a planned attack arranged by Khurshid Ahmed Pathan, Faizan Pathan and Maulana Mohsin Sheikh. The Yogi government gave a communal crayon to the assassination of Kamlesh Tiwari and accused his culprits of having connections with terror outfits actively operating in Pakistan.
Vikas Dubey has become a new entrant to the list created a flurry in the state when eight Uttar Pradesh police personnel were killed by his criminals in Kanpur as they were chasing Vikas Dubey on a tip-off. Vikas Dubey is a wanted history-sheeter, gangster, criminal, and real estate tycoon settled in Kanpur having more than 60 cases filed against his name.
A red alert has almost been issued in almost all the districts of Uttar Pradesh. Instructions have already arrived from the administration in thwarting any attempts made by Vikas Dubey to escape or elope. Also, the UP Police got on its toes in razing a part of his illegal construction in Kanpur owing to the compulsions on its part as they still are clueless about Vikas Dubey,s whereabouts? Who will shoulder the blame and why shouldn’t the government be taking the responsibility?
In August 2017, when around sixty children died in a private hospital due to lack of oxygen, blame was put on Dr Kafeel Khan for the negligence of duty by the UP government. Simply, for belonging to a community despised by the supporters and takers of the Bhartiya Janta Party it is high time for the Yogi regime in Uttar Pradesh to display some resolve on the front of periling law and order situation in the state.
In the guise of nationalism, they shouldn’t be deciding the credentials of one’s nationality but instead, interrogate their claims made at the beginning of 2017 of overturning the fortunes of the state. Almost two and a half years have passed but the inept Yogi Maharaj seems to be indulging in the emotive than the practical part of politics bereft of any substance.
This is doing more harm as it did during the regimes of BSP and SP in the state as the man in charge of the state should lift himself up from all that he has been performing so far and prefer to opt for what interests his state’s people than anything beyond. Sushaasan (good governance) being the panacea for all the ills.