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Uttar Pradesh Polls: In Hari Shankar Tiwari stronghold, Yogi calls for defeat of Mafiosi
Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister, said, “In the five years of BJP rule, a new Uttar Pradesh has emerged without Mafiosi and criminals.”
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Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said “in the five years of BJP rule, a new Uttar Pradesh has emerged, where there is no place for Mafiosi and criminals.”
He further said criminals running organised gangs were on the run and people in rural and urban areas of the state were living without any fear.
Addressing a public meeting in Chillupar assembly segment of Gorakhpur, considered a stronghold of former minister Hari Shankar Tiwari, who is known for his muscle power, Yogi said Mafias had sullied the image of Gorakhpur.
“Earlier, youths from Gorakhpur were not given jobs. The Mafiosi misguided them and lured them into their gangs. The BJP government checked the trend by launching a drive against criminal gangs. The people of the region also busted the myth that Mafiosi cannot be defeated in the elections,” he said.
Gangsters and criminals are on run and several of them have surrendered to police, Yogi said. “The BJP government used bulldozers to demolish illegal structures constructed by Mafiosi to free the government lands from their clutches,” he said.
Yogi urged people to vote for BJP candidate Rajesh Tripathi, who had defeated Hari Shankar Tiwari in 2007 and 2012 assembly elections. Vinay, son of Hari Shankar Tiwari, is contesting the assembly elections from Chillupar seat on SP ticket. He secured victory on BSP ticket in the 2017 assembly elections, while BJP bagged the remaining eight assembly seats in Gorakhpur district.
Earlier, Hari Shankar Tiwari had secured victory from Chillupar seat in six consecutive assembly elections.
A social worker based in Gorakhpur VK Sinha said: “Rivalry between Yogi and Tiwari is continuing since over two decades -- when Yogi was trying to establish himself in politics. Tiwari had then dominated politics, hopping from one party to another. He was minister in the Kalyan Singh and Mulayam Singh Yadav governments.”
After winning the Lok Sabha election from Gorakhpur seat in 1998, Yogi tried to restrict Tiwari’s influence in the area by launching a movement against ‘bomb and gun’ culture. Tiwari hit back by rallying opponents of Yogi and supported candidate fielded by the opposition parties, Sinha said.
Caste factor also came into play, flaring up the tug-of-war between Yogi and Tiwari.
Gorakhnath Temple Trust is seat of the Nath Panth but the mahanth of the mutt is invariably from Thakur community. Before emergence of Yogi, gangster turned politician Virendra Pratap Shahi, who belonged to the Thakur community, had taken on the might of Tiwari, Sinha added.
After brutal murder of Shahi in 1997, the Thakur community members rallied behind young Yogi Adityanath, whom the then head of Gorakhnath Temple Trust Mahanth Avaidyanath had declared his successor. Locals had then begun saying that “now the ‘mutt’ (temple area which is considered domain of Yogi) will counter the might of ‘hata’ (house of Tiwari as referred to by locals),” Sinha said.
Rather than the caste card, Yogi played the Hindutva card to expand his base and mobilise supporters. He launched the ‘Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV)’ to win support of the upper caste, backwards and Dalits to counter the muscle power of Tiwari and other political rivals.
The BJP has now fielded a Brahmin candidate from Chillupar to get the support of the upper caste people, Sinha said.
