Yogi Adityanath sitting pretty but BJP may not repeat performance in Gorakhpur

Overcrowded roads, encroachment, traffic snarls with haphazardly parked buses on the busy road connecting the railway station with the Roadways Bus station might make one wonder if it indeed was the home town of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The scene somewhat changes as one moves toward the famous Gorakhnath Temple, situated in the heart of the town, with wide roads and off course alert police personnel ensuring uninterrupted traffic.

Adityanath, who was in the fray from Gorakhpur Sadar Assembly seat, a traditional stronghold of the BJP, was also the ‘Mahant’ (religious head) of the temple, which is not only an important Hindu religious place but also wields considerable political influence over the people in the town as well as in several nearby districts.

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The political clout of the temple could be gauged by the fact that its head had been winning the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha since 1967, initially as Hindu Mahasabha candidates and later as BJP nominees. Adityanath represented the seat in Lok Sabha for five consecutive terms since 1998.

While the statistics were clearly in favour of Adityanath, who was contesting Assembly elections for the first time, the electorate in the constituency also appeared to be attached so much with the temple that they would support any one having association with it.

The Gorakhpur Sadar seat had also been a bastion of the BJP, which had never lost it since 1967 from the days of Jansangh.

"For the residents here the Gorakhnath Temple is the identity of the town… It has been like this for decades," says Kamalendu Pandey, a resident of the town, who ran several schools.

Pandey rejected assertion that the temple was rooted in politics. "The temple has nothing to do with politics. It is nothing but a propaganda of the opponents," Pandey said and exuded confidence that Adityanath would win easily.

Sujit Chaurasia, who was in real estate business, also echoes similar sentiment. "A lot of development has taken place here after Adityanath became chief minister of the state," he said citing Ramgarh Tal project, AIIMS, Fertiliser Factory to buttress his contention.

Even the detractors of Adityanath had little doubt about his victory.

Sunil Singh, who was once a close confidante of Adityanath and one of the founders of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a saffron outfit established by the UP CM that later fell out, and who has now joined the Samajwadi Party (SP), also admitted that he would have a smooth sailing.

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The electoral demography of the constituency also suited the BJP. It had around 1.5 lakh ‘Bania and Kayasth’ voters, who were traditionally supporters of the saffron party. There were also 30,000 Thakurs and 15,000 ‘Nishad’ voters, who were expected to support the BJP.

The SP has fielded Shubhawati Shukla, who was the wife of late Upendra Shukla, a BJP leader, who had contested the Lok Sabha bypolls from Gorakhpur in 2018 after Adityanath became UP CM and vacated the seat. Shukla, however, lost the seat to a SP nominee. Shukla and Adityanath, though belonging to the same party, had been opponents within the party politics and Adityanath had also opposed his nomination from Gorakhpur in the Lok Sabha bypolls. Shukla died last year.

SP hopes to garner votes of Brahmin and Yadav communities who are in good numbers in the Gorakhpur City Assembly constituency. Shubhawati had accused BJP of humiliating her husband and seeking votes in his name.

Bhim Army founder and Dalit leader Chandrashekhar alias Ravan is also in the fray from the seat. However, in a roadshow held a few days back, he had admitted that his chances were not very bright.

While a win at the Gorakhpur Sadar seat appeared to be a certainty, the BJP might not find it easy to win the other eight seats in the district. In 2017, BJP had won eight of the nine seats.

Even the saffron party supporters said that it would be extremely difficult to repeat the performance. "There is a tough fight on several seats," said a local BJP leader. Sunil Singh said that the BJP might not be able to win more than a couple of seats this time.

Influential Brahmin leader and former BSP leader Vinay Shankar Tewari, who joined the SP recently, was in the fray from Chillupar seat. The SP had also fielded a couple of ‘Nishad’ candidates in the hope of getting the votes of the community, which had a sizable strength in rural pockets.

It remains to be seen if Adityanath’s candidature is able to help his party sweep the district again.

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