DAWN printed this today, much worst in store for Muslims in India.
AFP Published February 8, 2022 - Updated about 2 hours ago
Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, gestures during an interview with Reuters at his official residence in Lucknow, India, February 7. — Reuters
A monk known for his incendiary anti-Muslim rhetoric leads the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) into
elections in India's most populous state on Thursday, where a strong win could put him in pole position to succeed Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Yogi Adityanath, 49, has stirred controversy since his surprise appointment in 2017 as
chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India home to over 200 million people.
Office has done nothing to temper his views, and as he seeks a second term he is exhorting Hindu voters to back the BJP while riding roughshod over Muslims who make up one-fifth of the state's population.
A hardline protege of Modi, Adityanath has soared in popularity beyond Uttar Pradesh, thanks to his fiery speeches and projection as a tough, no-nonsense administrator.
“He is brazenly open about his Hindu politics and ideology ... He has projected himself as a Hindu leader and that's what brings him crowds and votes,” said journalist and political commentator Sunita Aron.
“When he does Muslim-bashing, he grabs eyeballs and audiences,” she told
AFP.
In the run-up to the bellwether polls this week, the saffron-clad monk did not mince his words, saying it would be a fight between “80 per cent and 20pc”, referring to the state's
https://www.dawn.com/news/1673982/yogi-adityanath-indias-anti-muslim-priest-and-possible-future-pm demographic split on religion.
Crowds thronged one rally for a glimpse of the ascetic, despite coronavirus restrictions, cheering loudly each time he made a mocking reference to Muslim voters.
“They are worshippers of Jinnah,” he tweeted last month.
“Pakistan is dear to them, we sacrifice our life for Maa Bharati (Mother India).”
Full article here...
A hardline protege of Narendra Modi, Yogi Adityanath has soared in popularity beyond Uttar Pradesh.
www.dawn.com
That's about it, you live in a relatively good area of Delhi, you tend to feel everything looks fine.
India is about 65% rural, small towns, villages in tens of lacs, where there are chances of killings at a bigger scale.