Why Yogi Adityanath is a gamble with BJP's national expansion on stake

Appointment of Yogi as CM of UP is a very bold decision and i never expected BJP to be able to take it. Infact when someone told me that yogi is CM, i did not believe and regarded it only as media speculation. In my opinion BJP has played a big gamble and performance of Yogi in UP will affect  course of its success in India.

This decision will have following repercussions

Negative

1. Yogi ji is known for bold statements and a chief minister belongs to all citizens and   is expected to be a statesman, while yogi's perceptions is that of a reactionary. This does not sends good signals to the world.

2. Yogi ji is founder of Hindu Yuva Vahini and as such will not be acceptable to many.

3. BJP has frittered away the opportunity to win hearts and ensuring that veto voting that happens for  is halted after winning hearts.

4. Yogi is good answer to reactionaries among minorities but 90 % of population should not be alienated for the sake of 10%.

5. If yogi continues his pre-election rhetoric and forgets that he has to abide by the constitution, it will sully the image of BJP in India and peace-loving image of Hindus globally.

6. If yogi's herald leads to hooliganism of his supporters, it will be a disaster for the country.

7. For halting terrorism and radicalisation support is needed from amongst the community. Yogi's herald has made those inroads more difficult.

Positives

1. Strict law and order and hooliganism which has become the hallmark of UP, is expected to come down.

2. UP off lately has been witness to many communal clashes and appeasement policies, certainly these incidents will come down because people will understand that swift action without appeasement will be taken. This will bring down both actions and reactions.

3. There are many areas where electricity officials are shooed away and people don't pay bill. We should not be surprised if those people themselves start paying bills. Hence one can expect 24x7 electricity soon.

4. A saffron clad sanyasi at the helm of power is a good retort for those media professionals who have made Hindu bashing their profession.

5. Yogi is incorruptible and also a renunciate and hence top level corruption and  nepotism will come down.

6.   Since most will be expecting Yogi to take parochial decisions and if he goes against that perception, this will lead to long lasting effects. This also gives an opportunity for Yogi to work and break negative perceptions. Surprisingly he has won hearts in Gorakhpur even among muslim community.

7. The agendas for which BJP has fought since its inception like Ram temple, UCC, Abolition of triple talaq, closing of illegal abettors etc can be implemented by him.

8. There are many madrasas which are funded by Saudi money and preach doctrine of wahabism. Such thoughts in young minds  can  corrupt the entire generation and have led to radicalisation. Only a decisive CM can take action against these activities and choke the fund supply. Yogi is fit for the job.

9. Finally past 60 years have seen caste based politics and division among hindu community. Yogi who is a renunciate and beyond all castes can perform good job in uniting the hindu community. Modi should ensure that his direction of "vikas, vikas and vikas" should be adhered too and no deviation is permitted because it will heavily cost him and destroy the goodwill that BJP has made in India.

BJP could have balanced both the positive and negative by having a more acceptable face. If this decision is due to Yogi being the tallest leader of UP then it might be okay, but if its due to hardline image of Yogi then we are doomed.  BJP has played a big gamble and performance of Yogi in UP will affect  course of its success in India. In my opinion BJP should have chosen a more acceptable face but i will be happy to be proved wrong.

Countering Radicalisation through removing victimization

Frankfurt Airport 2nd March 2011 : Uka a young man, walked up to a waiting airman, asked him for a cigarette, and asked whether the airmen were bound for Afghanistan. After hearing a positive reply, Uka waited for the airman to turn away and then shot him in the back of the head, killing him. Shouting “Allahu Akbar” Uka then entered the bus, shooting and killing the driver, and continued to fire three shots at two other airmen, wounding them.

This was shocking as was the first terrorist attack in Germany. World was surprised at what would have led to this young man in early 20s to attack American soldiers who were bound for Afghanistan. It later turned out that he was watching radical content since some time and what motivated him to kill american solders was a video of American soldiers raping Muslim women. Later on investigation revealed that it was actually a clip from Redacted an American anti-war film. Uka, on learning later that he has been conned, cried with tears and said “If only i would have known, my life would have been saved”. However his tears were of no avail and he will spend rest of his life in prison.

The case of Uka is a case of self radicalisation where person was radicalised only after watching youtube vidoes and no direct training was involved. Very recently in America, a  couple who were described as peaceful and nice by friends,  invited people and later killed them to seek revenge for perceived crimes against muslims. It is opined that they too didnt had any link with some terrorist organisation but committed the task on their own.

Once i was enroute to Berlin and by chance our bus developed a problem and we waited for next one, this offered co-passangers opportunity to interact and noticing a young man of asian origin i approached him. He was from Pakistan and after some discussions, he bemoaned young childrens being radicalised with hate by terrorists. Their pliant minds make them easy targets to be radicalised and are some end up being suicide bombers to even target people of other sects. Sadly many terror attacks in Shia mosques of Pakistan have happened and were conducted by children.

In all the cases radicalisation happened either online or offline but ended up having the same effect. The sense of victimhood was used as a bait to attract and later on this sense was maximised by a series of false stories. True incidents were presented in a manner to promote radicalisation. For e.x a lot of people believe that America 9/11 twin tower attacks, was an inside job done by America itself to be able to attack Afghanistan. Another one is that, ISIS has been created by Israel. These are created with a view to promote victimhood amongst muslims.

Something similar has happened in India too, While most remain free from this false propoganda but for the sake of politics sense of victimhood is being promoted by political parties. I believe they are playing with fire by doing this. In 2002 when some terrorists burned a train bogey a false story was planted that this was done after a girl was mistreated.  Investigation later proved that it was a well planned attack and petrol was procured last night. Similarily when political program of current PM of India suffered a terrorist attack in Bihar, it was claimed by certain groups that it was done by PM aspirant himself to blame terrorists. Again both above stories had an agenda to promote victimhood.

Wars are created in the minds of Individual and in a tensed atmosphere even a small incident may later become incendiary fire. Ist WW was started when a small duke was murdered and almost all Europe was soon under conflagration of war. The democratic civilized world would do well to identify misinformation campaign through knowledge and should ensure that all radicalisation efforts be monitored and  countered through proper channel. It should also be tracked that places of worship do not end up being used as indoctrination centres.

I strongly believe that if only indoctrination of young pliant minds are stopped and misinformation replaced by correct and reliable information, lone wolf attacks will come down by as much as 90% and sympathetic support to these groups will decrease drastically. Under victimhood person refuses to see the truths and begins to justify the unjustifiable and is easy target for indoctrination. Kajakhstan incensed at increasing radicalisation within its borders has banned all teens from entering mosques as they fear it is being used for radicalisation. The world while effect of London attacks is still in air. should shed political correctness and state the problem. Monitoring what children are being taught and fighting misinformation are really low hanging fruits and small prices to pay for ensuring that our children inherit a peaceful earth.

Asato  Ma Sadgamaya : Lets move from darkness of misinfomation to Light of reason.

Power of intention: Butterfly effect

It has been said something as small as flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world.- Chaos theory

Some days ago while I was riding on a motor cycle and there was an auto in front of me also moving along. I had no mood of overtaking the auto and was riding leisurely. Two village boys who appeared to be less than 10 years age were sitting in the back side of auto facing me and caught my attention. One of them was smoking Bidi  (Cigarette of rural people) and the looks told that he still had some innocence and has perhaps started smoking recently. I was shocked and at watching such a young boy smoke but decided to act in the situation and not react to it. Looked and the boy who was smoking and smiled and with one hand raised a question sign asking “What are you doing dear”. Then I looked straight in his eyes and acted like a coughing man to portray that this act will lead to bad health.  I was light all the while and was smiling while communicating. I do not know whether my this small act will make a difference in his life but one such look helped me years ago.

Around 11 years ago, fresh in college, i picked up a wrong habit of smoking. I smoked cigarette and with many classmates to act cool. However i soon started analyzing changes in my life and was wondering what joy is the alcohol or smoking giving to me. I realised that there is no joy in it but I am simply too hurt to face my real self and am merely smoking to avoid looking inside.

While these questions were going on in my mind i went to mussorie along with a friend and his family. I bought a havana cigar and soon started smoking it. I was trying to act cool and perhaps was cool in the eyes of my friends. As i was smoking and talking loudly i got the attention of a middle aged woman of the age of my mother. She was astonished at seeing a young boy of 19 smoke and had compassion in her eyes. I could read her thoughts through her gestures and knew for certain that i am on wrong path. Within few hours and after finishing the cigar :) realised something is not good with my life and decided to quit everything that I had accumulated recently. I realised that joy is present inside and not in alcohol or cigarette. My life took a u-turn only through look of the aunty whom i had never met. If you are the aunty who looked at me years ago, I just want to know that I am very thankful to you.

I pursued on the path and increased my knowledge gradually through self awareness. Today 11 years later after this episode , i have become a yoga teacher and have been teaching yoga and meditation since last 7 years part time. (My profession is of software engineer :P though and I teach yoga for public good) . Many friends in Germany credit me for their health and know stories of dozens of friends/students who have quit smoking or cigarette. Today I have seen 17 countries and travelled India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. I spent one month recently in Himalayas cycling and am having real fun and an amazing life today. I like writing poetry and reading good books and experience the bliss of life.

My advice to you, keep spreading goodness. One never knows how even a small incident can bring about a vast difference in someone's life.

(Written: Jan 2016)