Yogi Adityanath, the saffron-clad mahant and Uttar Pradesh’s new Chief Minister, has embarked on his journey to ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ .
While this vikas also includes development for women – many of whom awarded BJP its sweeping victory in the state – here’s the yogi’s stance on nearly 50 percent of the state’s population.
In an essay published on his website (yogiadityanath.in) in 2014, the monk makes a long-drawn argument against reservation for women.
Defying the party line, Adityanath was one of several BJP MPs who opposed the Women’s Reservation Bill in 2010.
In his essay titled ‘Matrashakti – Bharatiya Sanskriti Ke Sandarbh Mein’, he argued:
Yogi opined that women – ‘described in our shashtras in glorious terms’ – always need to be protected, lest their ‘energy’ goes to waste.
He adds that the protection accorded to a woman by her father, husband and son is only to channelise her energy – to make her more powerful.
It is only a protected (in other words, controlled) woman, who gives birth to great men or ‘mahapurush’.
Yogi warns that women who acquire male traits turn into demons or ‘rakshasas’ (and hence need protection, for their own good and for the good of the society).
Infamous for rabble-rousing, Yogi Adityanath is the same leader who sat silently on the stage when his supporter gave an open call to drag dead Muslim women out of their graves and rape them.
Whether the caretaker of the famous Gorakhpur Mutt successfully works for sabka vikas – including women’s – remains to be seen.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)