The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has just completed its eight years over two consecutive terms, with Yogi Adityanath now the longest-serving Chief Minister of the heartland state. One of the most prominent faces of the BJP, Adityanath’s governance has been marked with a focus on law and order and Hindutva, populist schemes, and a push for development and economic progress. From the beginning the Adityanath government gave priority to strengthen security and uphold law and order by cracking down on criminals across the state. Some of the measures it took in this regard sparked controversies and came under the scrutiny of the courts for their alleged violation of due process, including bulldozer action against properties of those accused of crimes, encounters of criminals, and putting up of posters in public places naming suspects in different cases. Since leading the BJP back to power in the 2022 Assembly polls, Adityanath now seemed to have cooled down on this "crackdown" on law and order and shifted his focus to “vikas” (development) and economic growth. He has set target of a $1 trillion dollar, hosted investment summits, and made several policy changes to attract investment in UP, among the country’s backward states. Yogi govt 1.0 The BJP’s 23-page manifesto for the February-March 2017 Assembly polls made promises to various sections, including farmers, youth, fishermen and women, and the first decision of the Adityanath government after taking charge on March 19, 2017, was clearing a loan waiver worth about Rs 36,000 crore of over 80 lakh marginalised farmers in the state. It went on to constitute 'Anti-Romeo Squads' of police personnel, with the mandate of "checking eve-teasing" and "ensuring security of women". In February 2018, the Adityanath government held its first investors' summit. It was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top industrialists of the country, in a boost for Adityanath's bid to change the image of the state. Long before Kumbh 2019 and Maha Kumbh 2025, the government passed the Uttar Pradesh Prayagraj Mela Authority Allahabad Act, 2017, and the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Vishesh Kshetra Vikas Parishad Varanasi Act, 2018, which was specifically meant for the development of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor. In a bid to project UP as a “model state” on the law and order front, the Adityanath government then went on to bring various laws, including the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter (Amendment) Act, 2020, which stipulated stringent punishment for those found illegally transporting cow or its progeny; the Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damage to Public and Private Property Act 2020, which followed the government's decision to put up posters of those found involved in alleged violence during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) at public places, and serve them damage recovery notices. The government then brought the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act, 2021, to curb the cases of religious conversion. The Adityanath government faced a row over the number of criminals killed in "encounters" in surprisingly similar circumstances. In its first 10 months itself, over 900 encounters were carried out by the state police, in which about 30 were killed. The National Human Rights Commission as well as various courts took note of this. The government also rolled out bulldozers to demolish alleged illegal and unauthorised properties of those accused in crimes, earning the moniker of “Bulldozer Baba” for Adityanath. This strongman image was used by the BJP and Adityanath became its star campaigner in elections throughout the country. The demolition of properties in apparent violation of due process by UP authorities invited a Supreme Court order in November last year. The Court laid down a series of guidelines to ensure that process was followed in demolition of properties of citizens. Yogi govt 2.0 In comparison, one of the first decisions the Adityanath government took as its began its second innings on March 25, 2022, was to extend the free ration scheme, considered one of the major factors behind the BJP's success. The government then turned its attention to developing UP as a economically progressive state, setting a $1 trillion economy goal by 2029. It revised or unveiled several policies for each sector, providing incentives to improve the ease of doing business, which include stamp duty exemptions and subsidised land to reimbursement of interest on loans, to capital subsidy. The government's Udyog Bandhu agency was converted into Invest UP to fuel the plan to attract investment. Teams of ministers and officers were sent across the country and abroad to reach out to investors. At the February 2023 global investors summit, the government claimed to have attracted investment proposals worth Rs 40 lakh crore, many of which are still in the works. The government also kept the heat on history-sheeters. In April 2023, gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were gunned down by three assailants in a hospital complex in Prayagraj in the presence of police personnel and media persons, which was captured live on camera. Also, following a long legal battle, the government was able to bring another gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari from Punjab jail to the state's Banda jail as his aides were arrested, their properties seized and demolished. Mukhtar later died of heart attack in the prison in March 2024. By mid-2023, the focus of the government shifted to the completion of the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, which was consecrated on January 22, 2024. With Adityanath maintaining his pitch for the cause of Sanatan, his government took a slew of measures to boost religious tourism, making large allocations for the development of religious corridors and circuits, upgrading of roads there, and formation of development authorities for various religious sites. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, however, the BJP got a setback in UP, getting just 33 seats out of 80 as against the Samajwadi Party (SP)'s 37. The party also lost the Ayodhya (Faizabad) seat to the SP. By the end of 2024, the Adityanath government turned its attention mainly to holding Maha Kumbh at Pragyagraj, one of the world's largest religious gatherings, pulling out all stops for organising and popularising the 45-day festival. The total footfall at Maha Kumbh, held in January-February 2025, crossed 66 crore, which also gave a fillip to the economy. On January 29, however, a stampede occurred at the festival in which at least 30 people were killed. One of the BJP's 2022 manifesto promises that remain unfulfilled so far is the proposed distribution of Scooty to meritorious girl students, for which an allocation has been made in this year’s Budget with the selection of its beneficiaries yet to be done.
