Hardline Hindu priest a handful for Modi in UP

Since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stunned the political establishment by promoting a hardline Hindu priest to one of the country’s most powerful positions, Yogi Adityanath has sounded more statesman than rabble-rouser.

Gone is the fiery anti-Muslim rhetoric and promotion of Hindu supremacy for which the saffron-robed 44-year-old is known, and in its place is a message of social inclusion more akin to Modi’s language since sweeping to power in 2014."My government will be for everyone, not specifically for any caste or community . We will work for development of all sections and castes," Adityanath said shortly after being made chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state.

The words jar with what the shaven-headed leader of the Gorakhnath sect has been saying from public platforms throughout a political career spanning nearly 20 years.

In his northern power base - the down-at-heel town of Gorakhpur near the Nepalese border - Adityanath’s more conciliatory comments have done little to dispel unease among members of the Muslim community, who make up nearly a fifth of Uttar Pradesh’s 200 million or so people.

"We should just go about doing our job and pray the Hindu Yuva Vahini doesn’t take over mosques to build new temples," said local driver Aijaz Sheikh, referring to the Hindu Youth Force set up by Adityanath in 2002 to carry out his agenda. "If we react then we will pay the price.

The loss will be ours and no Hindu will come to stand with us in Gorakhpur.

"Adityanath’s ascent has prompted widespread questions about India’s secular status, and whether Modi, himself a product of a nationalist Hindu upbringing, intends to pursue more aggressive pro-Hindu policies as he pursues economic reforms."

Adityanath was a key campaigner for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh elections, and the thumping victory he helped deliver underlined how a divisive candidate could eclipse rivals who tried to reach out across communities.

"With Yogi Adityanath’s appointment, vigilantism has been upgraded into state policy," said Gilles Verniers, assistant professor of political sciences at Ashoka University outside Delhi."

In a gleaming white temple compound in Gorakhpur, people crowd Adityanath’s offices to petition his band of fanatical followers in the Hindu Youth Force to settle their personal grievances.

Clerks hammer out their requests on old mechanical typewriters, handing them to members of the force to deal with.

Not all disputes concern religion, but Adityanath’s devotees say their main mission is to fight against creeping encroachment by Uttar Pradesh’s Muslim community.

"It was a very difficult period for Hindus and for Yogi ji," Mahesh Poddar, a textile merchant who was one of the first people to join the youth force, told Reuters in the temple compound.

"We felt like we were living in a country that doesn’t belong to us."

Adityanath declined requests for an interview on past actions and his plans as chief minister.

Since his March 19 swearing-in, he has pushed policies that are an extension of Modi’s nationwide agenda, notably demanding state ministers declare their incomes and assets as part of a crackdown on corruption.