PM Modi and CM Yogi

“If they kill one Hindu, we will kill 100”, “Yogi Adityanath: The monk who owns a revolver, a rifle, and Rs72 lakh in assets”, “Yogi Adityanath is the face of BJP’s Hindutva project: Symbolism of the monk in saffron robes” and of course, the infamous “Militant Monk” cover of the Washington Post were some of the headlines over the years used by the global media to define Yogi Adityanath. He was vilified, he was abused, misrepresented and tarnished for fighting for Hindus. Not just that, he was disparaged for wearing his own faith on his sleeve, being the Mahant of the great Gorakhnath Math.

While reading the elephantine moronity of global and national commentators on Yogi Adityanath almost felt like waking up at dawn and reliving a mildly amusing, in hindsight, of course, campaign that the exactly the same elements ran against another leader who is, currently, at the very top of his political career. As soon as Narendra Modi was at that time chosen as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the media went on overdrive, treading cautiously since, from the very beginning of his political career in 1965, Modi had been a staunch Hindutvavadi.

Come 2002, when riots broke out in Gujarat right after 59 Hindus were burnt alive by a Muslim mob, the vultures came out of hiding. Butcher of Gujarat, they yelled at the top of their lungs with those cankerous voices. They denied the genocide of Hindus to sling a rope around Modi’s neck and pull him down from his throne. The campaign lasted decades and continues to date. But like a phoenix, he rose. He was made to sit for hours of interrogation and came out squeaky clean. Their plans to assassinate him, their campaigns to vilify him, their impotent rage at a proud Hindu leading Gujarat and someday, leading the nation, came to nought.