http://www.sacw.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/ArticlesArchive/subhashiniFeb
07.html
The Hindu Mahasabha-BJP MP from Gorakhpur, Yogi
Adityanath, makes no attempt to mask his intentions
with civilities and double-talk. He calls upon
the majority community to recognize Muslims
as the enemy and to utilize every opportunity
to attack them. He has created his own organization,
the Hindu Yuva Vahini, which has branches in
almost every village, small town and district
headquarter of Eastern UP. The members of this
organization are mostly unemployed and lumpen
youth. The organization has targeted poor youths
belonging to the Scheduled and Backward Castes
who now throng to its banner in the hope of
gaining status and prosperity. Every incident
that can be utilized to create communal tension
is utilized by the Vahini members with the full
support of the Yogi. As Dr. Hari Om, IAS, who
was recently removed from his post of DM, Gorakhpur,
said in an interview to the Hindi edition of
'Outlook' - "I learnt in my two years as
DM Gorakhpur that Yogi is a religious leader
and MP who wants to be involved in every incident
in the area in a dominating fashion. He wants
the Hindu community to accept his as their uncontested
leader and also the Muslims as their enemies.
They should give him donations and gifts during
every ceremony. ?.He utilizes all big and small
events regularly. He inflates non-issues into
issues and gives them a communal colour. Giving
small and stray incidents involving Muslims
like a minor fight, or a case of eve teasing
or water flowing from one house in front of
another house or shop a communal colour has
become a habit with him."
As a result of the Yogi's activities, eastern
districts of UP like Gorakhpur, Maharajganj,
Kushinagar, Deoria and Gonda resemble a communal
tinderbox today. Every year, several incidents
of attacks on Muslims in one or several of these
districts take place. Often cattle being take
to fairs or bought in Haryana by both Muslim
and Hindu farmers are forcibly taken away by
the Yogi who alleges that these are going to
be slaughtered and they are then distributed
amongst his followers. Every such incident serves
to underline the fact that he is a law unto
himself and that he and his followers can act
with impunity. They can burn, attack and physically
assault as and when they please without facing
any administrative action of any kind. This
is a pattern established over the years in spite
of the fact that there have been Governments
of all hues in this time-span. A few police
and administrative have to their credit tried
to carry out their constitutional duties but
they have usually paid the price of ignominious
transfers as a result. The reason for this is
that the Yogi is the only mathadhish (head of
a math) in the country belonging to the Thakur
caste and almost all political leaders belonging
to his caste treat him with reverence and deference.
They also ensure that the party to which they
belong behaves in a similar fashion when it
is in power. As a result, the Yogi has become
a political force on his own. He regularly puts
up candidates against the BJP and ensures their
victories.
The CPI(M) has been campaigning against the
Yogi and his activities for some time now. In
June 2005, it organized a massive rally in the
heart of Gorakhpur city against his vicious
brand of politics. The sound of slogans and
the sight of banners against communalism and
for secularism, unity and development were seen
and heard for the first time in years in Gorakhpur
and its neighbouring districts. The CPI(M) campaign
and rally were welcomed by many. Newspapers
commented on the fact that this was the first
time any political party had dared to take the
Yogi on. He also reacted by holding press conferences
and public meetings in which he attacked the
CPI(M) in the most intemperate language.
In January of this year, a few days before Moharram,
a minor incident of a Muslim boy misbehaving
with a Hindu girl occurred. The police intervened
and the boy was punished in front of members
of his community who welcomed this. Despite
this, the Yogi tried to capitalize on this issue
and engineer a clash but the administration
acted firmly. But the extremely well-organised
rumour-mongering that followed ('Our Hindu sisters
are being molested by muslims and the administrative
officers look on like transvestites' etc.) was
extremely inflammatory. On the night of the
26th, a fight broke out during a wedding reception
organized by a history-sheeter member of the
Yuva Vahini in the course of which shots were
fired. Unfortunately, a local Moharram procession
was passing that way and four Muslim boys were
got gunshot injuries. In the chaos that ensued,
one of the boys at the reception who was also
involved in the fight, Rajkumar Agrahari, ran
onto the road and was beaten up. Next day, he
succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. Yogi
started a dharna at the place that the clash
had occurred and highly inflammatory speeches
were made and slogans raised. His followers
set fire to a nearby mazaar but the police intervened
to put it out. Then curfew was imposed. Those
involved in assaulting Rajkumar were arrested
immediately after this but since the Yogi was
determined to foment trouble, he tried to break
the curfew next day and was then arrested. When
it became apparent after a
few hours that he was not going to be released,
his followers went on the rampage burning and
looting Muslim homes and shops just adjacent
to the Gorakhnath Temple. A very poor Muslim
mechanic, Rashid, was murdered by them.
It was most unfortunate that the DM and SSP
who arrested Yogi were not only transferred
but also suspended the same day. It was this
that encouraged Yogi's supporters to go on the
rampage that night. A telling comment on the
way in which Yogi is treated with kid gloves
by many in the top echelons of the UP Govt.
is the fact that the new DM and SSP who arrived
late in the evening of the 28th were advised
to go and visit the Yogi in jail and talk to
him by their superiors! They found the Yogi
being treated like minor royalty in the prison.
A well-known ruling party leader and criminal,
Amarmani Tripathi, who was in the same jail
since he has been accused of conspiring to murder
a poetess with whom he had intimate relations,
was entertaining the Yogi to a feast and also
to a program of bhajans inside the jail (the
bhajan party had been brought in from outside.)
It was at this point that the CPI(M) national
leaders intervened. They spoke to the Chief
Minister and stressed on the importance of stopping
the rioting from spreading in Gorakhpur and
its neighbouring districts by keeping the Yogi
in jail for having attacked a religious monument
and inciting violence and by implementing strict
administrative measures. It must be mentioned
that the Chief Minister was under great pressure
from within his party and from other political
heavyweights to release the Yogi.
As soon as it became apparent that the Yogi
was not going to be released, protests against
his arrest were started by the BJP and others
and there was a call to observe a bandh in all
markets in Gorakhpur and neighbouring districts.
To give an example of the kind of tactics employed
by the Yogis supporters, soon after his arrest,
his supporters sent out over a lakh sms' which
read as follows: "Katua mara jayega, Baap-baap
chillayega" (The circumcised one will be
thrashed, He will shout for his father).
In Gorakhpur, peace was soon restored. On the
30th, Muslim religious leaders decided on their
own not to take out the Taziya procession. In
a few days, shops also opened. Peaceful conditions
prevailed in all the neighbouring districts
also, with one shameful exception.
Padrauna is the district headquarter of the
neighbouring Kushinagar district. It is also
a vidhan sabha constituency held by the Congress
and it is here that Yogi is planning to field
his own candidate in the coming election. Two
years ago he had raised the following slogan
- U.P. Bhi Gujerat Banega, Padrauna shuruaat
karega (U.P. will also become a Gujerat and
the process will start in Padrauna).
And on the 30th and 31st of January, Padrauna
witnessed arson and loot of an unprecedented
ferocity. There are very few prosperous Muslims
in this area and the destruction wrought in
these two days reduced their numbers drastically.
All shops owned by Muslims in the main market
and in nearby localities were looted and gutted.
Many Muslim homes were also reduced to ashes.
The economic backbone of the community has been
almost completely destroyed.
A two-member CPI(M) delegation consisting of
Premnath Rai (State Secretariat member) and
myself visited Gorakhpur and Padrauna on the
21st and 22nd of February. On the 20th, Com.
Premnath along with Com. Dinanath (also a State
Secretariat member) visited the riot-affected
area around the Gorakhnath Temple.
Our visit occurred just after Yogi's release
on bail from prison. The day after his release,
he addressed a Press Conference in Deoria in
which he blamed "Subhashini Ali, CPI(M)
leader" for the disturbances in Purvanchal
saying that she had been visiting the area to
help the Maoists, SIMI and ISI increase their
activities and this was what had led to the
riots. To some reporters he repeated what he
had been saying earlier that she and her party
were also responsible for the removal of the
King of Nepal from his throne! His utterances,
however ridiculous, showed that he was only
too aware of the fact that apart from the CPI(M),
no other party had dared to oppose him publicly
and in no uncertain terms.
On the 21st, we visited Padrauna along with
CPI(M) members from Kushinagar, Com. Ayodhyalal
(Secretary), Shivnath Singh, Vijay Srivastava,
Raghavendra (DCMs) and Malti, Indu Pushpa and
Kranti (AIDWA leaders). We also met prominent
community leaders who gave us a lot of important
information.
The first place we visited was the Subhash Chowk
which is the main hub of the town. It is in
the middle of the main market and is the place
where all the Moharram processions congregate
and then proceed together towards the Karbala.
From the Karbala, they break up again and go
back to various mohallas and villages of the
area. Just at the Subhash Chowk is a large shop,
Dr. Maroof's X Ray. This was the first X Ray
clinic in Padrauna. It was also a well-stocked
medical store. Today, its shutters have been
mangled beyond recognition, its few remaining
shelves are bare and there is no X ray machine
to be seen. Dr. Maroof told us that he was told
at about 2 in the afternoon on the 30th that
his shop had been set on fire. He had come rushing
from his house and found that the police and
some administrative officers had arrived and
the looters and arsonists had been forced to
move away. He had then retrieved some of his
goods which were lying on the road and had closed
the double shutters of the shop and then left
the place after the officers present assured
him that there was nothing to worry about. As
soon as he left, the rioters returned and proceeded
to burn and loot his shop again, this time in
the presence of the police and the administration.
There are a few other shops owned by Muslims
in this market - hardware shops, an electronic
store, shoe shops, a PCO etc. - they are just
charred, black holes today.
The Moharram procession on the 30th started
from Subhash Chowk at about 1 in the afternoon.
The arson started after it left. The procession
turned from the Chowk onto the Khatkuiyan road
towards the Sidhua Sthhan from where it turned
to the left towards the Karbala. Just where
the procession was to turn, a large gate had
been erected a few months ago when a Yagnya
was held just there. For weeks before Moharram,
the
administration had been pleading with the organizers
of the yagnya who, of course were followers
of the Yogi, to remove the gate so that the
procession could go through but they had no
agreed. Finally, the gate was removed by the
administration on the 29th night and in the
morning the rumour was spread that the 'Muslims'
had forcibly removed the gate. The yagnya mandap
was damaged just before the procession arrived
there. Many people say that some of the PAC
men of a large contingent posted there to 'protect'
the procession were responsible for this. As
a result of all this, after the procession left
the Karbala, all the shops, large and small,
owned by Muslims on either side of the road
were looted and burned. Small teashops, paan
shops, tailors' shops, repair workshops, a very
large cloth shops, small shops selling readymade
garments - all were looted and then completely
gutted. A little further down the road, some
large thatched homes of Muslims had also been
burnt. We were told that much of this stretch
of land on the roadside was actually Govt. land
which had been occupied by a former Pradhan,
Nagina Kushwaha, who was trying to get rid of
all the others, mostly Muslims, who either had
their shops or their homes here. What is of
great concern is that many of the Muslim shops
that were burnt have now been occupied by Hindus.
We also saw that a lady, Pandey along with her
three sons, had occupied a large area where
a Muslim family had been living in a home that
had been burnt down.
Further down the road, is the village of s .
Here 9 homes belonging to Kushwahas had been
destroyed and burnt. Apparently, one of the
processions returning down this road had been
stoned near this place and, in retaliation,
some of the processionists had attacked the
Kushwaha homes.
We also visited the small hamlet of Razapur
which is more in the interior, behind Sidhua.
Here 37 fairly prosperous Muslim families who
had migrated from Bihar several years ago had
built their homes. Most of the men worked far
away in Surat and even in the Gulf. On the 30th
and 31st, Razapur was attacked by a mob of villagers
from the neighbouring villages. Only 2 houses
have been left standing, the rest were all burned
down and looted. Women of the hamlet told us
that they had run away with their children.
Some of them had even jumped into the nearby
canal to save themselves. They had remained
hidden in the fields for two days and nights
without any food or shelter. They could see
the rioters slaughtering their chickens and
goats and eating them while they starved.
Nothing was left of these once prosperous homes.
Even the wheat and rice that had been stored
in huge earthenware pots had been burned and
we could see charred grain everywhere. The anguish
and despair of Razapur was lightened by only
one fact - Bilas Kushwaha, a neighbour, had
come to their help. He had saved the two houses
that were still standing and he had given them
shelter. He had been abused and threatened by
the rioters but he had stood his ground.
Another badly affected place is the Belua Chungi.
This is a small market-place where several shops
belonging to Muslims have been looted and burnt.
One shop-cum-home of a prosperous Hindu, Chaurasiya,
was also attacked and has suffered some damage.
There are many things about Padrauna that bring
post-Godhra Gujerat to mind: the complete destruction
of the prosperity and livelihood of the Muslim
community; the appalling nature of the propaganda
methods used to spread hatred and incite violence
and the complicity of the administration in
the devastation of the minority community. It
is this last which is the most dangerous aspect.
UP is not a BJP-ruled state. Its ruling party
projects itself as a secular force and it is
accused by its detractors of following a policy
of appeasement of Muslims. And yet it appoints
district magistrates to ultra-sensitive districts
like Mau and Padrauna who are completely incompetent
so that the writ of its MLAs can rule the roost.
And yet its administration is an impotent witness
to arson and loot directed against the minority
community. And, for a month, people who have
lost their homes, their cooking vessels, their
foodstuffs and their clothes are left to fend
for themselves in the cold and rain without
any assistance from the administration.
On the 22nd, in Gorakhpur, we visited the homes
and families of Rajkumar Agrahari and Rashid.
Their inconsolable grief was indistinguishable.
Rajkumar's mother said - Whether Muslim or Hindu,
the death of a young son is unbearable for his
mother.
After meeting the bereaved families, we met
the IG (Zone), Jagmohan Yadav and gave him a
memorandum in which we demanded the arrest of
those accused of leading and inciting the rioters
in Padrauna many of whom are still at large;
restoration of status quo as far as occupancy
of affected homes and shops was concerned; immediate
relief to the homeless and payment of compensation
to all those who had suffered losses; and strict
action against those found to be indulging in
provocative acts. In this context we mentioned
that Yogi had visited Padrauna on the 20th and
had made a speech in which not only did he abuse
those officers who were strictly enforcing the
law and coming down harshly against those responsible
for the violence, but had gone to the extent
of saying that the task in Padrauna had only
been partly accomplished and it was now necessary
to see that it was completed.
The IG gave instructions regarding several issues
that we raised immediately and assured us that
the administration would do everything possible
to maintain law and order. Holi would pass off
peacefully, he said with confidence.
The situation in eastern UP should be one of
great concern for all those who are committed
to secularism and communal harmony. It is most
unfortunate that secular parties in government
and in the opposition in the State have completely
failed to intervene in any way at all to combat
all that the Yogi and his ilk represent. It
is only the CPI(M) and a few courageous individuals
who are doing their bit in this regard. Party
units in Kasya (Kushinagar) and Deoria took
out processions condemning the Yogi's actions
and urging the people to maintain
peace and brotherhood. The AIDWA unit in Lakhsmipur
village in Gorakhpur District took the lead
in insisting that the Taziya procession be taken
out and, in fact, participated in it along with
their family members.
While administrative action is crucial in maintaining
peace, ultimately the Yogi's evil designs can
only be foiled by a consistent political campaign
and united struggles around the real demands
of the people. The Kushinagar CPI(M) district
committee has taken a decision to hold an Anti-Communalism
Convention in Kasya on the 18th March. This
will be a small beginning of a long and hard
struggle.
