With a historic win, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained its power in Uttar Pradesh making Yogi Adityanath the first BJP chief minister, who got re-elected for a second consecutive term. As the counting of votes in Uttar Pradesh elections began Thursday morning, a meme in Hindi started doing the rounds on social media -- "A massive road accident in Uttar Pradesh as a bulldozer decimates an oncoming speeding bicycle."
By the evening, the politically loaded meme -- which conveyed that the Samajwadi Party (bicycle being its polls symbol) has been routed by the might of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (or "bulldozer baba") – went viral on social media.
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Adityanath, who is generally referred to as "Maharaj ji", earned this new sobriquet of "bulldozer baba" during the current elections due to his frequent reference of the heavy machine which his dispensation deployed to raze the ill-gotten property of criminals and mafias in the state.
Following the victory of the Adityanath, saffron cadres were seen celebrating atop a bulldozer across Uttar Pradesh. And soon social media was flooded with political memes around ‘bulldozer baba’.
In Lucknow, Varanasi and Adityanath’s own Gorakhpur, enthusiastic party supporters were seen taking out victory processions on bulldozers and chanting the slogan "bulldozer baba zindabad (long live bulldozer baba)" in praise of Adityanath.
Outside the BJP office in the state capital of Lucknow, some excited supporters were spotted riding on a bulldozer with saffron flags to celebrate the party's victory in the elections.
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Adityanath gets 'baba' reference in his name as he is the head of Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur.
He invoked bulldozer in his several election speeches, saying these heavy machines have gone for "maintenance" during the polls and would again roll out after the party returns to power.
In some rallies, bulldozers were seen parked at the venue of Adityanath public meetings in different places.
(with agency inputs)
