Bulldozer Baba. The sobriquet now sits easily on him. And UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath doesn’t mind it. For him, if a bulldozer is used for demolition, it’s also a symbol of ‘nirman’ (construction). Even before becoming the CM in March 2017, he would often say ‘if yogi carries ‘mala’ (rosary), he also carries ‘bhaala’ (spear)’. One symbolises ‘dharm’, the other ‘karm’, manifested by his much talked-about crackdown on the mafia.This has been the leitmotif of his journey as a chief minister in the past nine years. “If he is known for facilitating and fast-tracking the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, he has also been working to make UP the expressway pradesh of India. If he helmed successful organization of Kumbh and Maha Kumbh back-to-back, he has also turned UP into the most preferred destination for tourists, with more 137 crore of them visiting the state in 2025. If he has set up Uttar Pradesh Braj Teerth Vikas Parishad, he has also formed BIDA for the development of Bundelkhand and a Purvanchal Vikas Board,” says a political observer.
In his first term, Yogi used bulldozers to clear the mess – illegally grabbed land, especially from the possession of warlords, gangsters and mafia; in Yogi 2.0, bulldozers are being extensively used for big-ticket infrastructure development projects.Its usage on criminals fuelled the BJP workers’ emotions, who began bringing it in rallies during the 2022 assembly poll campaign as a symbol of a tool of strong governance. And it gave Yogi a new name – Bulldozer Baba. On the other hand, even though Yogi’s transformation from the first term into second term was gradual and smooth, his use of the bulldozer before the 2022 assembly polls often drew strong reactions from the Opposition as well as the judiciary.However, along with bulldozer action, Yogi’s clear instruction for a crackdown on criminals during the first term by giving free hand to the police to eradicate criminals also won hearts of the people in the state. All this combined created an ecosystem that laid the foundation for building a new Uttar Pradesh.Gradual improvement in the law and order situation in the state brought investors to UP. MoUs worth over Rs 4.3 lakh crore were signed in the first Investors’ Summit in 2018. With a favorable ecosystem giving a boost to investors’ confidence, MoUs did not end up remaining as intent but took shape on the ground, leading to the Yogi govt holding two ground-breaking ceremonies as a project worth around 1 lakh crore reached the final stage. The bulldozer action, improved law and order situation and foundation for starting big-ticket projects, along with well-oiled BJP machinery, brought the BJP back in power again after the 2022 poll results.In the Yogi 2.0, bulldozers were not for just clearing the ‘mess’ anymore. Instead, were being used to construct big-ticket projects like Jewar Airport and Ganga Expressway. Under him, UP has emerged as the leading state for the implementation of central schemes and become the first state to have five international airports. Exactly one year before the Yogi govt completes a decade in power, the first phase of Jewar International Airport is set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 28.Inauguration of the longest access-controlled Ganga Expressway is also expected to take place soon. It would be the eighth expressway in the state, the most in any state in the country. Before this, Purvanchal and Bundelkhand expressways were inaugurated in the first tenure.While presenting himself as a strict administrator and a ‘vikas purush’, what Yogi has never hesitated in shrugging off has been his Hindutva poster boy image. Proudly carrying his devout Hindu image with him, Yogi has focused extensively on developing religious tourism, be it making Ayodhya a new religious urban centre or pumping funds to develop infrastructure in Prayagraj, which has been seen as necessary to bear the brunt of the crowd that descends on the city during Maha Kumbh.Above all are Yogi’s pro-poor welfare schemes. The vacated land of Mukhtar Ansari was used to provide homes to the needy. LDA has allotted flats in the apartments to the low-income group persons on the land, which was freed post-bulldozer action in the Dalibagh area of Lucknow. Similarly, the Yogi govt constructed and allotted 76 affordable flats to the poor on land that was previously illegally possessed by slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed. But then politics is not all about development and welfare. Better coordination with cabinet colleagues, lack of coordination on more than one occasion between Yogi and the BJP organisation, over-dependence on the bureaucracy, and a narrative of inclination towards a particular caste are some issues that need urgent attention and redressal even as Yogi faces another litmus test – assembly polls – in the first quarter of 2027.In his nine-year journey as the CM, Yogi has broken several jinxes. The first was the ‘Noida Jinx’. He exploded the decades-old superstition that any CM who visits Noida loses the next election. He visited Noida dozens of times during his first term and successfully returned to power in 2022. He is now the longest-serving CM of UP
