There is one major newspaper which has managed to be interesting by singing a different tune amid the chorus of lament echoing from a vocal section in Delhi media – the section whose clichéd clamour for political correctness has been snubbed with the appointment of Yogi Adityanath as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. In doing so Dainik  Jagran, India’s most widely-read daily, has broken ranks with not only a large part of English press, but also the Hindi press. Following its reports about BJP announcing Yogi Adityanath as CM designate  (March 19) and his swearing-in (published on March 20), the daily has shown editorial inclination for understanding the Right wing leader’s broader definition of Hindutva as inclusive enough to coincide with the idea of Indianness. The paper is more willing to watch with guarded optimism Adityanath’s performance on the governance front. It’s a point of departure from the usual media obsession with divisive agenda and inflammatory rhetorics of the eastern UP mass leader’s brand of politics.

Despite being perceived as a paper with a Right tilt in its editorial outlook, it’s only in the final part of the election cycle that the daily has reinforced such perceptions. If you were looking for that slant in its campaign commentary and coverage, it wasn’t that obvious. In fact, Dainik Jagran was as banal as any other daily in serving homilies about developmental issues being neglected in electioneering or ruing how personal attacks are undermining electoral discourse.

It may be still be recalled that the paper courted controversy in the early part of the elections. It attracted the Election Commission’s wrath for jumping the schedule and carrying the results of an exit poll on the first phase of voting in its online edition. The poll had shown BJP to have an edge over its rivals in the first round.

All along the seven phases of elections, the elections and attendant issues engaged opinion pages of the paper. For instance, one of its edits (Banaras mein shakti pradarshan, Power Show in Banaras, March 5) talked about the lip service of concern for regional backwardness seen in the high decibel campaign for the seventh and last phase of polling in eastern UP. The daily observed (as translated from Hindi): “When a historic city like Banaras lags behind in development, there is no point in expressing surprise over the backwardness of Purvanchal region. The story of Purvanchal’s backwardness only exposes the failures of various political parties. It’s not the first election in which lack of development in eastern UP is being discussed. It has been talked about in previous elections too, and the only conclusion is that discussion hasn’t led to expected attention.”

In his weekly column for the daily (Gum hue vikas ke masle, Issues of development have disappeared, February 26) Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Gupt, who also belongs to the family owning the Jagran group, rues the fact that even the electoral tokenism about developmental issues lost its way as the campaign shifted to personal attack – rounds of barbs, allegations and counter-allegations. Another edit in the paper (Jeetegi Janta, People will win) celebrates the democratic merit of upsurge in voting percentage. Allahabad-based social scientist Badri Narayan’s piece (Chunav mein vanchit tabke ki chaahat, What the deprived sections want in the elections, February 27) offers his field study-based insights into the expectations of the voters of the deprived social sections, especially Dalit voters. He cites his study to argue that deprived sections want the new government to fulfill these three expectations: ensure continuity of social security schemes (especially the employment schemes), provide housing for them and shield them against repression, particularly what’s perpetrated by coercive forces like the state police.

In the aftermath of BJP’s spectacular victory, clinching a three-fourths majority in the UP assembly, the paper gets interesting in what it has chosen to downplay and what it has continued to persist with. For instance, sample how editor Sanjay Gupt’s column (Apekshayein poori karne ki chunauti, Challenge of fulfilling expectations, March 19) looked at the mandate, choice of Yogi Adityanath as Chief Minister and the challenges for the new government.  First, he doesn’t make a single mention of the labels of communally-polarising figure and incendiary personality associated with Mahant Adiyanath.

While his piece credits BJP’s win to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal as a decisive leader with a development-oriented vision, he appreciates the fine social balancing of the claims of various caste groups that has shaped the choice of Adiyanath as CM with Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Maurya as Deputy CMs (such a balancing act could be seen in the council of ministers too). The only concern Gupt raises is that none of the three leaders chosen for top leadership in the state are from western UP. He hopes that this shouldn’t come in the way of addressing the challenge of lopsided regional development in the state.

With the expectation that developmental agenda would drive the new government, Gupt writes “UP neither lacks resources nor talent. If the new government resolves to work with the motto of development for all, things will change fast in the state. The new BJP governments in states, particularly in UP and Uttrakhand, must remember that landslide electoral majority also bring innumerable expectations. Fulfilment of these expectations will make BJP’s 2019 target easy.”

The more overt endorsement of Yogi Adiyanath’s appointment as Chief Minister, however, could be seen in paper’s edit. The first edit (Uttar Pradesh mein Adityanath, Adiyanath in Uttar Pradesh, March 19) after his appointment is significant for ignoring any negative reference to perceptions about his divisive politics, something which has been fodder for Delhi media scrutiny.

However, it’s the second one (Yogi shasan ki suruwat, Start of Yogi’s rule, March 20) which sees the appointment as an opportunity for Adiyanath to show how his inclusive Hindutva could be blended with development of the state. It also certifies that his track record as a mass leader and head of a popular religious trust in Gorakhpur equips him with credentials to combine the development narrative with an inclusive Hindutva subtext. “Along with proving his critics wrong, it’s an opportunity for Adityanath to show that Hindutva is essentially Indianness and it has place for everyone just like his cow-protection outfit (in Gorakhpur) which he heads,” reads the edit. “It’s pleasant to know that the religious trust he heads gives equal respect and importance to people from different castes and (religious) communities”. The paper goes on to add that such an inclusive character is the way forward for BJP’s campaign promise of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’’(with all, development of all).

By being realistic enough to take note of the centrality of identity politics as a given in everyday political life in India, Dainik Jagran has made no bones about where its editorial heart lies. Its commentary, evolving through the course of elections, sought to absorb the elements of the larger narrative of the right – identity assertion with development as the policy leitmotif.