This story is from February 28, 2017

A cafe, Buddhist votes, shut sugar mills in Kushinagar

At one of the sharp 90 degree turns on Lucknow-Guwahati national highway 28, a forbidding gate with a statue of Gautam Buddha announces Koshinagar district of Uttar Pradesh.
A cafe, Buddhist votes, shut sugar mills in Kushinagar
Yama Cafe in Kushinagar where candidates from BSP, SP and BJP visit frequently to meet Buddhist leaders.
KUSHINAGAR/PADRAUNA: At one of the sharp 90 degree turns on Lucknow-Guwahati national highway 28, a forbidding gate with a statue of Gautam Buddha announces Koshinagar district of Uttar Pradesh.
Amid a sacred rubble of past that houses the site where Buddha delivered his last sermon and died here, a bevy of decorated SUVs, blaring Bhojpuri songs and carrying SP and BSP candidates, pull out at one neo-retro Yama Cafe.

A sea of backpackers from Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, China, Japan and Korea, with their DSLRs and iphones, look incongruous on the street that has at least two dozen large Buddhist temples and monasteries run by these countries.
The cafe run by one Assamese-Bengali T Roy is a popular halt for party workers as they meet Buddhist monks here for blessings as well pending talk. Endless cups of colas, Chinese fried rice, some chowmein and lot of sweetened tea follow, a theme that runs counter to 11 shut sugar mills of the neighbouring constituencies of Padrauna, Ramkola and Khadda.
“BSP loves all religions and there can’t be a better way to start or end a day with a tea at a spiritual place like this. The district and its seats have suffered a lot due to no development work despite it being a tourist site. Besides the farmers have suffered a lot due to lack of buyers for their sugar over the years after mills shut down,” says BSP candidate Bunty Rao, ensconced on a chair with his supporters at the cafe.
“It’s the BJP government that has brought the airport here and PM will soon visit the temples here. Each Buddhist here is significant part of our state,” says BJP’s Rajni Kant Mani Tripathi.

4,200 Buddhists in the neighbourhood villages of Sukharisapra, Dumari, Buddhnagri and Kasiya are a tiny yet crucial votebank. What heightens their significance is the fact that even Hindus approach them and other monks to oversee their auspicious ceremonies, shop inaugurations, or celebrate child births.
The grievances for farmers, Buddhists and Hindus, are separate. While Hindus here want timely payment for their sugarcane yields and promote bank transfers that have only halted since demonetisation, the Buddhist want connectivity for the tourist from across the globe.
“We respect all partymen and invite them for our functions and take part in their ceremonies. From President APJ Abdul Kalam to Sri Lankan President to Thai King everyone has visited here, yet we don’t have an airport, rail connectivity or bus here,” says Bhadant Gyaneshwar, Buddhist head priest of all temples, who migrated from Bhutan in 1950s to this place.
“An acre of land only earns us a measly Rs 35,000 a year from sugarcane yield which too depends on variety and the mill purchase. The shutting of mills has forced us to compete on wheat and paddy produce,” says Tajender Singh
Though most of of the villagers are Dalit converts and swear by the BSP, it was chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who, in August last year, gave 195 acres land to Maitreya Project Trust on a lease of Re 1 for hospitals, colleges, and rest homes for the Buddhists here.
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About the Author
Rohan Dua

Rohan Dua is an Assistant Editor with Times of India. As an itinerant reporter, he has walked a marathon from rustic farms to idyllic terrains across Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to report extensively on the filial politics, village triumphs and palace intrigues. He likes to sneak into, snoop and sniff out offices for investigative scoops, some of which led to breakthrough probes in the Railgate, Applegate, AW chopper scam, IPL fixing and drug scam. His stories nailed Pakistan's involvement with damning evidence in two Punjab terror attacks at Pathankot and Gurdaspur.

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