Seers want Yogi Adityanath as BJP UP CM face

The involvement of saints and seers in politics is now complete. The Bhartiya Sant Sabha Chintan Shivir being held at the Goraksh Mandir in Gorakhpur has demanded that BJP MP Yogi Adityanath should be projected as a chief ministerial candidate.

The saints at the meeting said that with Yogi Adityanath as chief minister, the obstacles in the path of the Ram temple in Ayodhya would be cleared.

Mahamandaleshwar Chinmayanand Maharaj said that even if the Supreme Court verdict was in favour of Ram temple, the state government in Uttar Pradesh should be led by one who is committed for temple construction and there is no better candidate for this than Yogi Adityanath. The saints have decided to send a proposal to this effect to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the RSS.

This is the first time that seers and saints have proposed a name for the chief minister’s post.

“We have to accept ground realities. If the temple is to be constructed, then we need the right persons in the right post at the right time. If a party that does not believe in our ideology is in power, temple construction will be difficult,” the seer said.

The seers at the meeting also supported a young candidate as the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate to counter the youth power of the Samajwadi Party. The saints felt that Yogi Adityanath fits the bill since he has a vast following among Hindu youth.

The firebrand Yogi Adityanath, however, has few supporters in the BJP though the state leaders agree that he would be successful in polarising votes on religious lines during the elections.

“His acceptability factor within the BJP is low because he has never worked in the party organisation. In fact, he has been working with his Hindu Vahini. As a leader, he can polarise votes without doubt but we have our doubts whether he will be suited for a chief minister’s job,” said a senior party leader.

Opposition parties, meanwhile, have reacted strongly to the proposal. Senior Congress leader Haji Siraj Mehndi said, “The BJP campaign started out on a development note but the party is now showing its true colours by playing the aggressive Hindutva. This is the time for all secular and right minded citizens to beware of the BJP’s designs.”

BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya said that the BJP was trying to test the waters by getting the saints to propose Yogi Adityanath’s name. “The idea is to polarise voters in religious line and the Samajwadi Party is very much a part of this conspiracy but the BSP will thwart their designs and expose them,” he said.