When Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath flatly refused to wear the cap offered to him at Kabir’s mausoleum in Uttar Pradesh’s Maghar last week, he was sending a subtle message to Hindutva forces — that he would rather live up to his reputation.

Adityanath was at the mausoleum to review the arrangements for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit the following day. And even though the cap was offered simply because all the visitors have to necessarily cover their heads inside its precinct, the saffron-clad UP CM was clearly not enthused by the idea.

And that prompted two other BJP leaders to follow him into the sacred place without covering their heads. While Kabir is traditionally hailed as a saint who broke the usual barriers between Hindus and Muslims — his followers came from both communities — Yogi Adityanath was quite blatant in expressing his reservations against the sentiment.

As if that was not enough to drive home his point, Yogi’s fringe base has already opened yet another card that could easily stir the hornet’s nest — the proposal to install a statue of Lakshman across the medieval Tile-wali Masjid in old Lucknow.

Adityanath's (lack of a) gesture prompted two other BJP leaders to follow him into the sacred place without covering their heads. Photo: PTI

And that was stated to be in tune with the legend about Lord Ram’s younger brother Lakshman establishing the city of Lucknow, then named Lakshmanpuri. The fact that the 17th century mosque was built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb could be used to add fuel to fire.

With a senior BJP leader — no less than former Union minister Kalraj Misra — going to the extent of now suggesting that Lucknow be renamed as “Lakshmanpuri”, it would not be too far-fetched to suspect that plans were afoot to create yet another Ayodhya here.

A few weeks back, when the nation was celebrating Eid, Yogi did not mince words in declaring “I am a Hindu and I do not believe in celebrating Eid”. His remark hit the headlines as this was the first time that any UP chief minister had publicly made such a declaration.

Political observers were of the view that every act of the UP chief minister was apparently guided by the saffron brigade’s larger gameplan to take the communal divide to a new high ahead of the 2019 national elections. That is seen as the only strategy to counter the new electoral alliance that was in the process of taking shape in the Opposition to give the BJP a run for its money.

After all, the crucial 2019 general elections would determine the political destiny of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose charisma and well-orchestrated agenda of aspirational politics led the BJP to a record spectacular win in 2014.

However, with Modi’s stock having dipped over the past four years, the BJP appears to be all set to play up its communal card — and to use the saffron-clad UP chief minister as its Hindutva mascot to sail the party through in the next general elections.

While the open support for Adityanath was clearly spelt out at a prolonged meeting of senior RSS leaders with Adityanath here on June 26, insiders claimed that the meeting also laid out a broad outline for ensuring full-scale polarisation well before the election.

The RSS found it convenient to push its agenda since Yogi Adityanath was already on the same page right from the time he was installed on the hot seat 15 months ago.

Not only his much-hyped shutting of slaughter houses, but even his other tirades like “love jihad”, “ghar wapsi” and his flat refusal to follow the old tradition of hosting “roza iftars” and his reservations against “madrasa” education were all directed towards forging a communal divide.

What seems to have prompted the entire saffron brigade to switch its focus from “development” politics to religious polarisation is the enhanced Opposition potential through an imminent grand alliance among Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the Congress.

While a trailer of this alliance was seen in the devastating defeat of the BJP in four recent bye-elections in UP, the larger picture could be equally dismal for the BJP when it comes to the brass tacks in 2019.

Also read - Modi in Maghar: Will PM's gambit to woo Dalits sway 2019 polls in BJP's favour?