Temple Of The King: Powerplay In Yogi Adityanath바카라�s Gorakhnath Math

There  is a steady stream of people seeking to meet Dwarka Tiwari, secretary of the Gorakhnath Math, as he holds court in a room in the temple premises. Over a dozen young men with saffron scarves slung around their neck are with him. A portrait of Hindutva icon Savarkar hangs on the wall facing him. It바카라�s a room that exudes power, symbolised by an empty desk belonging to chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Tiwari바카라�s phone rings intermittently. He picks it up and listens patiently. When he is done, he turns to the men and women바카라�supplicants all바카라�who are ushered in every now and then. Tiwari has been managing the temple바카라�s affairs, but with the assembly elections on, he has also been designated as the in-charge of the poll campaign.

The interplay between politics and religion is hard to miss in Gorakhpur바카라�Uttar Pradesh바카라�s other temple town, 137 km away from Ayodhya바카라�which derives its name from saint Gorakhnath, who founded the temple. During the ongoing seven-phase polls, Gorakhnath Math, of which Yogi is the chief Mahant (priest), has become a hive of political activity. BJP workers, including members of Yogi바카라�s right-wing organisation Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV), have been working apace here, moving around with election materials: banners, posters, standees. 바카라�We are doing the groundwork for Maharaj ji바카라�s record win,바카라� says HYV state general secretary P.K. Mall, referring to the CM in the term he is addressed here.

ALSO READ: Elections 2022: A Paradox Called Uttar Pradesh And How It Votes

While Yogi바카라�s ascendancy and his aggressive comments are often cited by critics as the friction point between Hindus and Muslims, the temple바카라�s pradhan pujari (chief priest) Kamal Nath argues that the Mahanta Digvijay Nath Trust, which manages the temple, doesn바카라�t discriminate on the basis of religion. 바카라�It has a long history of the Hindu-Muslim amity.바카라� The temple is widely seen as a 바카라�power centre바카라�, along with Gita Press, but the priests and the trustees of the publisher insist they have nothing to do with politics. Yogi Som­nath, a priest and a yoga instructor, says the temple바카라�s efforts are in the realm of social trans­f­o­rmation and it remains an intrinsic part of Gorakhpur바카라�s social fabric. 바카라�The temple is the city itself,바카라� he adds.

ALSO READ: Elections 2022: Which Way OBCs Swing Could Decide Fate Of Uttar Pradesh

The Gorakhnath temple is located in the Sadar constituency, which has emerged as a hotly contested seat, primarily because Yogi is contesting his first assembly election from here. Taking the CM on in his bastion is Azad Samaj Party president Chandrashekhar Azad, who is stationed in the city for door-to-door campaigning. His party바카라�s flags, with its kettle symbol, have added patches of blue in the saffron-dominated landscape. 바카라�Our agenda, unlike BJP바카라�s, is pro-public. There is so much anger against Yogi because he has failed on several fronts. I come from a humble background, with no political lineage. The youth are getting impatient for a change; they can gauge what바카라�s good for them,바카라� Azad tells Outlook.

Also in the fray for the seat are two women바카라�27-year-old poet and tabla player Chetna Pandey (Congress) and 55-year-old homemaker Subhavati Shukla of the SP바카라�and a Muslim, Khwaja Shamsuddin of Mayawati바카라�s BSP. In a region where the Thakur-Brahmin divide runs deep, the Brahmin opposition candidates could upset the BJP바카라�s consolidated vote bank. Pandey, who worked with Yogi during her Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad days, says that while Azad is an 바카라�outsider,바카라� Shukla, widow of late BJP leader Upendra Dutt Shukla, has been given the ticket on compassionate grounds to garner 바카라�sympathy바카라� votes. 바카라�The Congress is fighting astitva ki ladai (the battle for existence) on behalf of the women and the marginalised,바카라� says Pandey. The SP candidate바카라�s campaign is being managed by her two sons, Arvind and Amit Dutt Shukla.

ALSO READ: Battle For Unnao: Tales Of Courage And Hope As Families Of Rape Survivors Seek Closure

Voting for the nine seats in Gorakhpur ass­embly segment, where the number of voters is estimated to be around 4.5 lakh, will be held on March 3 in the sixth phase. Union home minister Amit Shah and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav are likely to hold roadshows for their respective candidates. Ana­lysts say it may appear to be a multi-cornered tussle, but the main battle seems to be between the BJP and the SP. In 2018, BSP had extended support to the SP to fight against the BJP in the bypoll for the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha (LS) seat.  Praveen Kumar Nishad바카라�s spectacular streak of luck had given vigour to the SP-BSP coalition, re-energising talk of a national anti-BJP front. There was a ripple of hope among the Oppo­sition parties at the Centre that if they were 바카라�united,바카라� it would perhaps be possible for them to stop the BJP behemoth. However, in the 2019 LS elections, that hope was dashed. The BJP and its ally Apna Dal(S) won 64 of the 80 LS seats, proving the arithmetic of the SP-BSP 바카라�mahagatbandhan바카라� in the state wrong. To add insult to injury, the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP suffered a setback: three members of the Yadav family바카라�MPs Dimple Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav바카라�lost the elections.

In politics, goes the popular adage, there are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. This acquires special relevance in the political theatre of UP, where several socio-political permutations and combinations come into play every election, lending the battle at the hustings in the largest state a sense of intrigue. The Nishad (Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal) Party, which was founded in 2016 for upliftment and empowerment of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), has joined hands with the BJP, a party dominated by upper castes, with a Thakur as the CM. Bhojpuri actress Kajal Nishad, the SP candidate from Campierganj바카라�another traditional stronghold of the BJP where state minister Fateh Bahadur Singh, son of former CM Vir Bahadur Singh, has been a six-term MLA바카라�says that the people of Campierganj are fighting for 바카라�freedom from misrule바카라� of the BJP. She says: 바카라�Janta ekjut ho gayi hai (people have united). Yadavs, Rajbhars, Nishads and Muslims are together in fighting against the injustices of the Yogi government.바카라�

In the last few years, says Gorakhpur DM Vijay Karan Anand, infrastructure of the city has been upgraded, which includes opening of AIIMS and the beautification of the lakefront. For the people of Gorakhpur, however, it바카라�s unemployment and inflation that are the two key issues in this election. The youth this reporter met complained that there were no vacancies anywhere and they were forced to do odd jobs to get along. Even in Jungle Aurahi, the village Yogi has adopted, there are no jobs for the educated youth, they allege. While the free ration and direct benefit transfer have brought relief, it is not enough. In the Gorakhpur Rural belt, Muslims complained of 바카라�discrimination바카라�. Vineeta Pathak, professor of political science at Gorakhpur University, says that politics has failed the people, especially those on the edge. 바카라�It바카라�s a shame that in the 21st century, we are still talking about caste.바카라�

ALSO READ: Lakhimpur Kheri: Grief And Anger In Ground Zero Of Farmers Protest

Adyalal Yadav, a farmer in Campierganj, finds that inflation has made it tough for people to aff­ord two simple meals daily. 바카라�Whatever the government has done, it is not enough. Yahan bas caste chalta ha, sona de dein to bhi nahin chalta (nothing, not even gold, works here, except caste).바카라� Sohan Kumar of Naya Gaon doesn바카라�t have the wherewithal to buy cylinders. 바카라�Though I get 20 kg grains, ghee aur chana (as part of the PDS), mera bartan, bichona aur vastra wahi purana hai (my utensils, beddings and clothes are the same).바카라�

Researchers Shashank Chaturvedi, David N. Gellner and Sanjay Kumar Pandey recently wrote an essay in Contemporary South Asia, which analyses the politics of Gorakhpur since the 1920s. 바카라�Whatever happens elsewhere, Gorakhpur remains a city dominated, at least at the level of the parliamentary and MLA elections, by the Hindu Right. The increasing strength of the Math in Gorakhpur owed much to the persistent organisational efforts of successive abbots (after Mahant Avaidyanath, four-time MP from Gorakhpur) and their attempts to project themselves as progressive and developmentalist, as vikaspurush바카라�but it also benefited, indirectly and in the long run, from the rise of gangster politics, for which the city became famous. The Math off­ered an alternative power centre and source of protection that was eventually able to outlast and displace the gangsters,바카라� they write.  

ALSO READ: Muslims Not A Monolith Vote Bank, Neither Do They Vote Unitedly To Defeat BJP

Sanjay Kumar Pandey, professor at the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, JNU,  says that the rise of the Math is linked to mafia politics of the 1960s and 1970s and its decline. 바카라�The Math has been there for a long time, but in the last 30 years, it has become unassailable. In many ways, the rise of the Math helped Gorakhpur to come out of the clutches of mafia politicians. Largely, the Math got support from the people.바카라� Political scientists, who do not wish to be named, say that while Gorakhnath, the founder of the non-Brahmanical Nath monastic order, was anti-caste and kept himself away from the trappings of power, Yogi is not just caste conscious but also 바카라�corrupting바카라� the tradition by demonstrating a hunger for political power. In Gorakhpur, power rests with the Math, and those who live ins­ide it. Azad invokes Ambedkar to warn us against mixing politics with religion and creating a cult around a person. 바카라�Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul, but in politics, bhakti (hero­ worship) is a sure road to degradation.바카라� 

(This appeared in the print edition as "Temple of the King")

ALSO READ

Punjab Election 2022: For All Parties, It바카라�s A Harvest Of Farm Suicides

Punjab바카라�s Dalits: Seen But Not Heard

Goa 2022: Party Hard, Play Hard But Keep The Women Away

The Other Voices: The World Of Mouthpiece Media

Eye Of The Falcon: Shaheen Bagh And Beyond

Nawaid Anjum in Gorakhpur