Yogi fights to retain bastion Gorakhpur, not on Modi’s rally map

Gorakhpur: The Gorakhnath math’s overarching spell over people was shaken in 2018 when BJP was decimated the first time in nearly three decades. It’s the only shrine in India where its head priest is also the chief minister. And nobody knows this better than CM Yogi Adityanath that he has to fortify his once impregnable fort to regain the math’s clout and his own political stature.
It’s been nearly a week that the math’s maharaj has dug in his heels in Gorakhpur, helihopping to neighbouring districts to campaign, but returning by night. The desperation is showing and he’s leaving nothing to chance.
The math’s prabhari, Dwarika Tiwari, reflects on people’s unwavering faith on the shrine, which he calls a one-stop solution to all issues from religion and politics to family and civic issues as well. Suddenly, cracks seem to have appeared in its political space after Gorakhpur became the first laboratory of neo-gathbandan politics after a young Nishad engineer decimated the BJP with SP-BSP support in bypolls last year.
The byelection victory acted as the catalyst of friendship between the two formidable parties that it’s posing among the biggest challenge to the party’s bid to retain power at the Centre a second time. Speaking to TOI, CM Yogi Adityanath said, “We’re seeking votes in Gorakhpur in PM Modi’s name.”
It’s also the first time the caste arithmetic seems to be queering the pitch for BJP with Samajwadi Party fielding a Nishad, just weeks after Yogi’s midnight coup to rope in giant killer father-son duo of the NISHAD Party into the BJP fold. Congress too has put up a popular Brahmin face, prominent lawyer Madhusudan Tripathi, to nibble into the upper-caste vote. Also, Yogi’s once formidable foot soldiers, Hindu Yuva Vahini, are a rebellious, scattered group, with a significant breakaway faction vigorously campaigning for the gathbandhan candidate, Ram Bhual Nishad.
BJP’s pick and Bhojpuri singer Ravi Kishan, initially viewed as an outsider and proxy candidate to retain the math’s sway over politics, is doing multiple roadshows to woo voters.
Though sitting Gorakhpur MP Pravin Nishad, now aligned with BJP, vows to swing the entire Nishad vote in BJP’s favour, many in the influential community are split on their vote: the saffron candidate or the man of their caste, Ram Bhual Nishad, of Samajwadi Party. “We will take out a bike rally to reinforce the Nishad support for BJP,” said Pravin. But many Nishad-dominated villages sense a betrayal in their party founder Sanjay Nishad’s dalliance with BJP. Also, former Hindu Vahini founder, Sunil Singh is mobilising people against the BJP after being dumped and jailed by the BJP government.
Yogi has tried to nurse his native place by showering development projects of over Rs 5,000 crore in two years in power and has regularly visited Gorakhpur every week to stay connected with the people. Public meetings by party chief Amit Shah aside, RSS messengers have fanned out in almost every nook and corner of the constituency. Yogi has deployed a battery of his ministers to camp here and canvass for Ravi Kishan. But PM Modi, who is leading the campaign blitz in the state, has avoided Gorakhpur.
On Wednesday, it was decided that Amit Shah will hold a road show in Gorakhpur on Thursday.