Can a Religious Leader Delivery as Chief Minister?


On Sunday morning I was very surprised to hear of BJP’s choice for Chief Minister for UP. Honestly, I can’t recall any of Yogi Adityanath’s statements that contribute to his present negative image among urban Indians. At the same time, even for BJP supporters there is some negativity associated with our impression of him.

One associates UP with social backwardness (to put it mildly), social divisions along religious lines (for those who love to hate BJP, let’s not forget the contribution of our “secular” parties in having achieved so), high crime rate, and I’m sure it’s pretty backward economically too. The govt of such a large and problem-ridden state would need to plan and perform along multiple dimensions for a decade before social and economic reforms begin to show. But parties are lucky to have more than five years! Why then, would a firebrand religious leader be chosen? He has no experience in administration. We can’t even recall an impressive speech over his five terms in Lok Sabha. How will Finance and Education ministries of UP perform with a religious leader as CM?

In politics many major decisions are driven much more by political considerations than economic ones. At the same time, to run a state or country on the model of a corporate is neither desirable nor sustainable. A govt has social responsibilities it must honour, which a corporate is under no compulsion to worry about. Still, the decision to select Adityanath seems driven almost entirely by political considerations. Besides the usual suspects in media vomiting venom at this choice, there are others who have pointed out the voting pattern across UP and the existing popularity of Adityanath in regions that voted overwhelmingly for BJP. Perhaps there were also internal rivalries among the new MLAs which led to an MP being chosen from the part of UP which even represents the PM.

Still, among the first thoughts that came to my mind was, what does he understand about economics? How will the state earn, generate employment and invest earnings for social reform, infrastructure development, etc? How is a religious leader supposed to fit here? The other instance I can recall of a religious leader (well, saffron-robed anyway) assuming a constitutional post has been of Uma Bharti as Chief Minister and Union Minister. I don’t recall a spectacular performance by her in either role.

Yet, there could be arguments in Adityanath’s favour. Religion guides us throughout our lives. Who says it should not or cannot in politics and administrative roles? In fact, it would be desirable!

As for him being an untested administrator, well, so was NaMo till 2002. From 12 years as CM, he’s been the most popular PM since Indira or Nehru (number of seats in Lok Sabha, a measure of Rajiv’s popularity in 1984, was based entirely on sympathy vote). And NaMo is widely seen as a doer. If we had hope in him in 2014, do we write off Adityanath based on his attire and some provocative statements? Nonsensical statements and lies have been stated even by Ivy Leaguers in the Congress, not to mention their High Command and their “secular” allies. Are we to raise the bar for a Hindi speaking religious leader?

BJP has got a mandate like never before in UP. Given the sharp politicians Modi and Amit Shah are, would they squander away rare opportunity by selecting someone they don’t have faith in? UP can also not be run by remote control from Delhi – it is far too big, complex and needs a full time CM. Any how much can the PM stretch himself anyway! So, a CM has no choice but to perform, and do so exceptionally.

What Adityanath has to offer will become evident in about a year. One thing is for sure – BJP can’t afford to fail on the social and economic development in UP if they want to return to power in 2019.

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