It is inelegant to begin an article with a question. But the only way to fathom Uttar Pradesh’s psyche is to ask: Why does the Bharatiya Janata Party feel Chief Minister Adityanath is its best bet to win the 2022 State Assembly elections? It would seem the BJP presumes the people of UP will forget, in a few months, the images of bodies floating down the Ganga, the scramble for hospital beds and oxygen cylinders, and stories of villagers who died burning with fever.

Adityanath did not seem perturbed by these images in his recent media interviews. He credited his policies for the sudden ebbing of the brutal second wave of Covid-19. The subtext of these interviews was that UP’s plight would have been worse without him. In days to come, media outlets will feature advertisements hailing Adityanath. Social media biggies are accused of exploiting data of users to influence their choices. In contrast, Indian media perceive government advertisements as a legitimate revenue stream—and not as a tool for mass indoctrination.