HomePolitics NewsBeyond Binaries | UP election 2022: Law and order likely to be a theme in political slugfest

Beyond Binaries | UP election 2022: Law and order likely to be a theme in political slugfest

The BJP seems projecting - 'maintaining law and order' as one of its important achievements during its governance during the Yogi regime while the Opposition is presenting a contrary picture of the deteriorating law and order in the state.

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By Badri Narayan  October 26, 2021, 6:56:53 PM IST (Published)

Beyond Binaries | UP election 2022: Law and order likely to be a theme in political slugfest
It is an interesting shift in the electoral discourse of Indian democracy that sometimes realities get transformed into metaphors. In the election campaigns and propaganda strategies of political parties, the selective telling, retelling, and representation of reality in the attractive package may be observed. The powerful telling of realities sometimes produces influential political phrases and metaphors. Here I am discussing one such metaphor which will echo in the campaign of the ruling party, i.e., Bhartiya Janata Party, and also in the electoral discourse of opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Election 2022. That is 'law and order' in the state.


As we know 'law and order' is the concrete, visible and substantial reality of a state like Uttar Pradesh. But in the election campaign of the state, it is slowly getting transformed as a symbol that is being interpreted by political parties and the public in various ways.

The BJP seems to be projecting - 'maintaining law and order' as one of its important achievements during its governance under the Yogi Adityanath-led government. In the making of brand 'Yogi', law and order is going to be used as main advertisement content by his strategist and the team involved in campaigning. It is interesting to observe that opposition parties in the state - Congress, Samajwadi Party, and Bahujan Samaj Party are also attacking the BJP by highlighting its failure in maintaining law and order. The opposition especially Congress led by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is aggressively attacking BJP on the issue of law and order by raising incidences of Hathras case, Lakhimpur Kheri, and rising police atrocities on the public especially on Dalits and marginalised.

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However, Yogi is using an interesting metaphor for his crusade against crime and violence, i.e., 'bulldozer'. The 'bulldozer' in various public lectures of Yogi carries double meaning -- one is against those who evoke communal tensions and riots in the state and other, the criminals who were mostly strengthened during previous rules and used to threaten common people in quasbas, cities, and rural areas. The narratives of Yogi around law and order are weaved in a way that they may satisfy the Hindu psyche as well as strengthen the sense of security among the public. On the other hand, the opposition is trying to criticise his use of bulldozer selectively against criminals and mafias of certain religious and social communities.

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While roaming in villages of Uttar Pradesh to understand the shift in the political choices of social communities, we heard a section of people appreciating BJP in controlling land mafia and criminals. It is interesting to find in Shekhpur village near Prayagraj that a few Muslims and some respondents from Hindu communities together were appreciating the Yogi government for no communal riots in the state after 2017. During these field studies, we also saw a section of people who looks inclined towards SP and BSP, criticising BJP for the decline of law and order in the state. In their narrative, the reference of Hathras incidence and Lakhimpur Kheri incidence appear as criticism of the BJP rule in the state. We also observed that despite various admirations of Akhilesh Yadav-led SP, some people said - "lekin (but) criminals use to roam fearlessly during his regime". Such responses and narratives of common people reflect that law and order will be an important constituent in shaping the image of leaders and making their brand.

In the age of print, electronic and social media, the perception, narratives, and discourses sometimes become more influential than realities. It depends on who recreates and disseminates its narratives' powerfully and convinces the people for its arguments. BJP and oppositions both have started craving their narratives for UP Assembly elections. In these narratives of both sides, law and order may emerge as an important constituent and theme. Let's see who succeeds to represent realities more influentially than others and mobilise people in its favour.

- Prof Badri Narayan is Director at the G B Pant Social Science Institute (A constituent institute of the Central University of Allahabad). Views expressed are personal.