In 8 years in Parliament, Yogi Adityanath's most recurring debate topic: Hindu affairs

24-03-2017 Fri 15:19 | National | IANS

"It is unfortunate that some opponents, communalists are trying to portray him as a rabble-rouser and fringe personality. They should go through his parliamentary debates. Those reveal his seasoned thinking on various issues of governance," union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said on his Facebook page on March 19, 2017, referring to Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Factchecker did just that, analysing hiss performance over the last eight years as a member of Parliament (MP) in the 15th and 16th Lok Sabhas, using data from PRS Legislative Research, an advocacy focussed on parliamentary affairs, and the Lok Sabha archives.

Our four main findings:

1. While the 44-year-old politician raised a variety of concerns -- including river pollution and rising cases of encephalitis -- his most recurring choice of debates focussed on Hindu affairs and cow slaughter, particularly over the last three years.

2. In the 16th (current) Lok Sabha, 18 per cent of Adityanath's debates have focussed on Hindu issues, seven-percentage points more than during his previous term as MP. The topics include cow slaughter, enforcing a uniform civil code, and protection of Hindu pilgrims. Even his debates on the Enemy Property Bill (now an Act) and his concerns about Indian youth in Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), counted under internal security debates, held religious underpinnings.

3. A science graduate, Adityanath had the most queries (57) for the ministry of health during the 16th Lok Sabha: 11 were on corruption in medical bodies, and six on population control measures to address India's "reported demographic imbalance", a reference to his belief that Muslims, who make up 14.2 per cent of India's population, were growing faster than Hindus.

4. Adityanath asked almost as many questions (52) of the ministry of home affairs over the last eight years of the 15th and 16th Lok Sabha. Of these, 34 per cent were related to fears about the effect of ISIS, Indian Mujahideen extremists and Christian separatists on internal security.

(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform. Alison Saldanha is an assistant editor with IndiaSpend & FactChecker. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. Feedback at respond@indiaspend.org)

(The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the ap7am team.)