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The ascension of Adityanath, a priest who uses the honorific “Yogi”, to the post of chief minister of Uttar Pradesh has already set off a chain of vigilantes and violence.

Two days after took charge, “anti-Romeo” squads made their presence felt in Meerut. According to a report in the Times of India, the squads “blurred the line between crime patrol and moral policing”, chosing people at random to inform their parents of their so-called romantic activities.

Late on Tuesday, three meat shops owned by members of the Muslim community in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, were set ablaze, allegedly by a mob, days after the BJP came to power in India’s most populous state on a promise, among other things, to end cow slaughter. Meanwhile, Adityanath has directed the UP police force to prepare an “action plan” for closure of abattoirs in the state.

Some of these are part of a governance script already laid out by Adityanath, going by his interview in February to Sudarshan News’s Suresh Chavhanke (video above). Here, he laid out his “action plans” to deal with what he termed rising Christian and Muslim populations, to ban cow slaughter, to keep the youth motivated by forming “anti-Romeo” squads, and to build a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

Chavhanke began the interview by asking Adityanath, the BJP’s “star pracharak”, what he had to say about members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini being upset that the priest had not been declared as the BJP’s CM candidate.

“The Yuva Vahini is working with a mission,” Adityanath said. “The mission is to protect the rights of every person in UP. And to end the anti-Hindu sentiment that has been bred in the name of secularism since the time of independence.”

In response to claims that Adityanath has no policies for the youth except rioting and “kidnapping Muslim women”, he said, ”After all this is work for the young, is it not? They are working towards building a nation.” He added that the BJP plans to create a “special task force” to ensure that slaughterhouses are shut down.

Citing figures from the 2001 and 2011 census, the future UP Chief Minister claimed that “Gorakhpur is the only district in India where the population of Muslims has gone down,” adding, “If I can do this in Gorakhpur without being in power, if the BJP comes to power, it will happen in the entire country.”

Chavhanke offered his own research findings, that there has been a “silent increase” in the Christian population in UP. “We have observed that they [churches] have trapped young men who want to lead a luxurious life without working for it,” Adityanath responded. “Or they marry them off to a Christian girl. We have observed these tactics up close and fought against them.”

And the Ram Mandir? Adityanath said, “In one year, there is going to be very good progress on the issue. We are on the threshold.”