There is one upmanship between Yogi Adityanath and Narendra Modi.
When Yogi became CM and shut abattoirs, word spread that it was Modi’s idea. Yogi did not contradict that.
Change of name is an easy way to get publicity. BJP members wanted Mughalsarai Junction to be changed to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhaya Junction on 5/8/2018. That happened along with change of city name to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhaya Nagar.
Yogi announced change of name of Allahabad to Prayagraj. It was also a demand of BJP members. That generated publicity for a few days.
Modi unveiled Statue of Unity, statue of Vallabhbhai Patel, on his birth anniversary on 31/10/2018. It is world’s tallest statue at 182 metres/597.11 feet. It is almost double the size of Statue of Liberty which is 93 metres tall. In China there is a Buddha statue 153 metres tall. The height of statues includes that of pedestals.
Soon there was talk of 202 metres tall Statue of Ram in Ayodhya. On 6/11/2018 Yogi announced change of name of Faizabad district to Ayodhya district. Faizabad city retains its name. He also announced building an airport named after Ram and a medical college named after Dashrath. The programme at Ayodhya had 3,00,000 lamps, double of 1,50,000 lamps at Modi’s programme at Varanasi. Yogi said he visited Ayodhya six times in one and a half year since he became CM. No UP CM has done that. It seems Yogi was also hinting at Modi who had not visited Ayodhya in recent years.
Some months back there was an advertisement which had photos of Yogi as CM and Nitin Gadkari as Surface Transport Minister. There was no photo of Modi. There was speculation about that.
Yogi has backing of RSS. He did not contest Legislative Assembly elections. He was an MP. RSS wanted him as CM. He became an MLC. BJP lost Gorakhpur held by Yogi in Lok Sabha by-election.
Supreme Court has not heard Ayodhya Dispute case and it may hear in January. There is pressure on Modi to bring an ordinance to facilitate building of Ram temple in Ayodhya. Some are offended that Supreme Court said Ayodhya Dispute is not a priority for us. They say it is an insult of all Hindus.
Yogi sees himself as a rival to Modi. RSS wants Ram Mandir. Some members are impatient. They talk of a situation like that of 1992. Yogi will figure prominently regarding Ayodhya in coming days. More publicity for Yogi means less publicity for Modi. Yogi will fancy replacing Modi as PM.
