Next on his hit list were the butchers of UP, who are almost 90 per cent Muslims and in a few cases, Dalits. In any case, the retail meat trade is largely conducted by the Muslim butchers and the offal and skin treated, seasoned and later used in the leather industry where again the main workers are Muslims or Dalits.
In fulfilling such agenda, Yogi was left with no time nor had any inclination to turn to governance of the state which is larger than most European countries, both in terms of population and area. By August, BRD medical college in Gorakhpur, Yogi’s home constituency, was facing an acute crisis in the form of the deadly encephalitis fever which strikes children almost every year in eastern UP and adjoining districts of Bihar.
Suddenly, it came to the fore that the oxygen supply to the hospital was ending and the company which had the contract to supply oxygen to it had ceased the supply after giving due notice because its pending bills had not been cleared and payment held up by the Finance department functioning directly under the chief minister.
This is when Dr Kafeel Khan rushed to arrange several cylinders to save the lives of as many children as he could that night.
The news of the child deaths due to lack of oxygen on account of Yogi govt’s failure was reported widely in the media next day, causing huge embarrassment to the chief minister.
Next day, he visited the hospital and made Dr Khan a scapegoat. He was suspended, had a FIR registered against him and arrested.
Successive inquiries and investigations however found all charges against Dr Khan bogus and unsubstantiated and courts granted him bail and even quashed the charges, though Dr Kafeel Khan was in jail till September last year in another case.
Meanwhile, in August 2020 the foundation stone for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya was laid even as Coronavirus ran amok all over the country. Logically, this would have consolidated the Hindutva constituency behind the BJP and Yogi.
But according to sources, the BJP team led by B L Santhosh painted a very bleak picture of the situation before the triumvirate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda.
The primary reason of people’s ire is of course huge number of deaths caused by COVID in all across UP. But that’s apparently not all. It seems that a large number of party MLAs, several ministers and even both the deputy chief ministers are unhappy with Yogi’s functioning.
Modi therefore despatched to UP his trusted troubleshooter, former Gujarat cadre IAS officer A K Sharma whom he wanted to be inducted as deputy chief minister to replace Keshav Prasad Maurya, with Maurya being made the state BJP chief. But Yogi is reportedly resisting such a move.
There is speculation in media circles that Modi is disenchanted with Yogi and wants his wings clipped. But Yogi is no Kalyan Singh, whom the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee got sacked for his insolence in a jiffy. And if Yogi goes out kicking and screaming, it could damage the BJP image immensely, more so if he floated his own outfit to contest elections against the BJP.
On the other hand, with so much of resentment against him, there is every danger of UP slipping out of BJP hands. So, the only option
appears to be leave it to Yogi to raise the communal temperature so high that voters forget everything else than Hindu-Muslim polarisation.
Towards this end, certain Muslim elements claiming to be local AIMIM leaders have reportedly been roped in.
However, if Yogi actually succeeds in retaining power in UP through hook or crook, he is will then be knocking on Delhi’s doors staking claim to be the successor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who by 2024 would be 74-years-old. That is a clear and present danger for Modi.
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