In Gorakhpur, they swear by this Baba

But is the city ready to re-elect Yogi Adityanath, the sitting MP?

Yogi Adityanath with BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi recently

Hoardings and posters of candidates are conspicuously absent in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur parliamentary constituency. Barring a couple of billboards of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi promising “ Achche din ” (good days), there is little by way of electioneering.

“This city chooses Baba; what is there to discuss? What good are posters when we all swear by him?” asks a shop owner in Golghar.

Yogi Adityanath, aka Baba, is the head priest of the Gorakhnath Mutt and the sitting MP since 1998. He is the presumed winner of the forthcoming polls.

The city is not only ready to re-elect him, but is also geared up to vote for “Modi”, who is “Baba’s choice.” The Yogi-politician has the final word in Gorakhpur and people eulogise him; they blame the lack of development in the city on successive Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party-led governments in the State.

Dalit dissent

While a majority of the city seems to have already chosen its MP, the minority communities — the backward classes and Dalits (Gorakhpur has a sizable Chamar population) — are divided in their opinion. “There are about 20,000-odd Christians in Gorakhpur and they have traditionally been Congress supporters. But this time there is a dilemma, some are supporting the Aam Aadmi Party, though its presence here is almost non-existent; others are thinking of going with the SP. But like the Muslims, the community is not the BJP’s vote bank,” says Rev. Roshan All of St. John’s Church in Bashartpur.

Not all residents endorse the assertion by the Gorakhpur temple that Hindus and Muslims co-exist in peace. “There are fewer clashes; incidents like Muzaffarnagar have not happened in recent times, but that doesn’t mean there is no tension,” says a Muslim resident, requesting not to be named.

Gorakhpur, on the banks of the Rapti, is considered the bedrock of right-wing Hindutva forces. It is also now home to the deadly Encephalitis that claims hundreds of lives every year.

The lack of development, avenues for employment and poor infrastructure are hard to ignore.