BJP workers and supporters used #BulldozerBaba and sat atop the machine to celebrate the party’s resounding victory in Uttar Pradesh
BJP supporters atop a bulldozer as they celebrate their’s party’s victory. PTI
Workers and supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrated their win in Uttar Pradesh by carrying out rallies on bulldozers. On Twitter too, #BulldozerBaba went viral.
What’s the deal here and why has the bulldozer become synonymous with the saffron party? We take a look.
Bulldozer politics
It all started with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s mention of bulldozers in his campaign speeches.
Speaking at one of his election campaigns, Yogi had said: “We have a special machine which we are using for building expressways and highways. At the same time, we are using it to crush the mafia who exploited people to build their properties.”
He repeated it time and again in his speeches and gradually the bulldozer became the poll mascot for the BJP.
In fact on 24 February, Adityanath told thousands collected at a rally in Gosaiganj, Ayodhya, “UP ki majboori hai, bulldozer bahut zaroori hai” (bulldozer is a necessity for UP).”
He reiterated it again in Mathura on 2 February while speaking to peoplein Tarauli village of Chhatta Assembly constituency. “Bulldozer will move against unsocial elements and mafia after 10 March.”
On 11 February at Shahjahanpur’s Kant, he said that the BJP government believes in development but also has bulldozers for the mafia and that is why women in the state feel safe.
SP leader Akhilesh Yadav had also mocked Adityanath, dubbing him ‘Baba Bulldozer’ and stated that ‘Baba’ will lose the election.
“He (Yogi Adityanath) changed the name of everything. Till now, we were calling him ‘Baba Chief Minister’, but today one English newspaper called him ‘Baba Bulldozer’. I have not kept this name, this name was kept by a reputable English newspaper. And the time the vote is held, the government will change,” said the SP leader.
It is interesting to note that since coming to power in 2017, Yogi Adityanath’s ‘Anti-Bhu Mafia Task Force’, with the help of bulldozers has freed up over 67,000 acres of government land from the clutches of land mafia in the state.
As per an Economic Times report, the police has attached and demolished illegal property worth Rs 1,848 crore in the state.
BJP supporters holding party flags ride a bulldozer in celebration, as the party heads to a landslide victory in UP Assembly elections, at the party office, in Lucknow. PTI
Bulldozer celebrations
Shortly after trends showed a BJP win in the state of Uttar Pradesh, people climbed atop bulldozers to celebrate.
Mathura MP Hema Malini said: “We already knew our government will be formed; we have worked for every developmental aspect, which is why the public trust us, nothing can come in front of a bulldozer, as it can finish everything within a minute, be it cycle or anything else.”
Twitter too lit up with #BulldozerBaba tweets and memes.
With inputs from agencies
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