- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
IN today’s India where religious polarisation often steals the headlines, bulldozer has emerged as a new political symbol.
Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh who many see as the next big thing in the Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party after prime minister Narendra Modi, has been credited for making the bulldozer a forceful political tool.
In fact, Adityanath, who has the image of an administrator with an iron-fist, earned the nickname of ‘Bulldozer Baba’ in Uttar Pradesh for extensively using the machinery to free 67,000 acres of government land from the clutches of land mafia.
ALSO READ: Violence rocks Kanpur after BJP leader commits ‘blasphemy’ against Islam
The social media was also abuzz over the use of bulldozer with many favouring its use to deal with the alleged rioters to teach them a lesson.
Peaceful people are doing their job 🙏🙏
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When action taken by police then #Kanpur pic.twitter.com/NoxFlPFJ7v— Pandit g Azad🇮🇳🚩 (@Prateek79077318) June 3, 2022
Time to unleash bulldozer in Kanpur .. this is the only language they understand pic.twitter.com/izl2FtBSf4
— Vikas Chopra (@Pronamotweets) June 3, 2022
Riot was pre planned. Flat earth flying donkey community brought stones on “Thelas”.
This is how Isl@mic terrorism works.
One thing that can control Jihadi is #bulldozer pic.twitter.com/ItLyug4K2Z
— Global Toons News (@GlobalToonsNews) June 3, 2022
Riot was pre planned. Flat earth flying donkey community brought stones on “Thelas”.
This is how Isl@mic terrorism works.
I smell #bulldozer in #Kanpur..who else? pic.twitter.com/w9ZRkLfe8a
— Rajesh kumar (@Mahaesh12345gy) June 3, 2022
His opposition attacked Adityanath with the nickname ahead of this year’s assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh but whoever has given it, the BJP leader is well living up to the reputation. The man has emphasised on the bulldozer as a tool that his government deeply trusts to widen the way towards development in the state.
Bulldozers were also used by the government of another BJP-ruled state Madhya Pradesh and Delhi to tear down residences of alleged rioters. The opposition has called it the demolition of democracy but for Yogi, it has already become a popular tool.
The bulldozer was back in discussion in the wake of the violence that broke out in the city of Kanpur in UP with the Adityanath government ordering stringent action against those who were involved in the chaos. The government has said that it would invoke the Gangster Act against the accused rioters to either seize or demolish their properties.
At least 18 people have been arrested so far in connection with the violence which started during a strike called by the Muslim community to protest the alleged insult to Prophet Muhammad by a BJP leader on a live television debate on the ongoing Gyanvapi row.
