With his whirlwind, aggressive state-wide election campaign, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has turned the urban local bodies polls in the state to a precursor for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He has pledged to cleanse the area of garbage alongside the elimination of mafia and criminals.
The urban local bodies polls are scheduled in two stages – on May 4 and May 11 and the votes will be counted on May 13.
Just a fortnight after the killing of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad in Prayagraj, Yogi Adityanath’s 19 public meetings in seven days have set the tone for Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign for urban local bodies as well as Lok Sabha polls. His speeches in each of the rallies highlighted the state government’s eradication of the “mafia”, “aparadhi”, “danga”, and “gunda and tamancha” culture, consistently associating it with the former Samajwadi Party-led government in the state.
Chief Minister Yogi’s public meetings are backed by video campaigns by the state BJP’s official YouTube channel that link SP leader Akhilesh Yadav with criminals like Atiq Ahmad and Mukhtar Ansari. The BJP emphasises that these criminals are pushing for Akhilesh’s resurgence.
Akhilesh Yadav commenced his campaign in Gorakhpur on Sunday, where he targeted Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on issues of cleanliness and law and order. Yadav said that people were tired of the crime incidents in the state and claimed that incidents of rape and robbery were at their peak. He further accused the BJP of failing to clean the streets and drains of cities during their six-year tenure.
Yogi Adityanath’s focus during his four to five daily public meetings has been on the security of the common man and maintaining strict law and order. He has exhorted the crowd in several of his meetings to establish a “triple engine government” by securing a majority in the “shahar ki sarkar” alongside the state and Central governments. He paints a grim picture of the fate of criminals and “mafias” in Uttar Pradesh, while touting the development initiatives implemented by his government.
Chief Minister Yogi sought support for BJP candidates in Amroha, a city famous for its drums. Yogi said while locals had kept the traditional instrument like drums alive, “humnein bhi dholak baja kar mafia ko rasatal mein pahuchane ka kaam kiya hai (We have also worked to beat the mafia and sent them to abyss).”
In Saharanpur, he said, “No curfew, no danga, UP mein sab changa (No curfew, no riots, all is well in UP).” He alleged that “2017 ke pehle, party vishesh se jure logon ke haath mein tamanche hote they.”
During his meetings on April 27 in Mathura, Firozabad and Agra, Yogi Adityanath highlighted his government’s main goal of eliminating criminals and filth from the state.
“Humari sarkar ki ek hi yukti, apradhi aur gandagi se mile pradesh ko mukti (Our government has only one objective –to clear the state of criminals and filth)," CM Yogi said. In Agra, he remarked that the city’s youth had “tablets” instead of “tamanche”, or guns. The following day, he visited Sitapur, Lakhimpur, Balrampur, and Gorakhpur. In his public meetings in Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Deoria, Kushinagar and Varanasi on Saturday, Yogi Adityanath referred to the kidnapping of Nand Kishore Rungta (a businessman kidnapped in January 1997) and promised that no mafia or criminal could roam freely on the streets and dare to kidnap now.