On all four sides of the Gorakhnath Math lie Muslim localities. Over the years, small shops have come up here, to cater to the hundreds of visitors to the temple campus, and its educational institutions, hospitals and colleges. Within the four walls, Yogi Adityanath is the absolute head. However, the man who has just risen to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s chair draws his strength as much from this trust and its charitable activities as also a private army headquartered nearby holding up the other end of his persona. Till recently, the Hindu Yuva Vahini, with its hardline Hindutva agenda, had a history-sheeter as its head. A few kilometres away, in another corner of Gorakhpur, along the spruced ghats of river Tapti, youngsters gather every evening, to steal moments away from home like youngsters everywhere, stopping every so often to take selfies. Many of them would have stepped out of a campus run by a Yogi trust. Adityanath, the five-time MP, the man declared heir of the over 100-year-old Gorakhnath Peeth at the age of just 22, may have startled the state by going after slaughterhouses and “Romeos”, but here in Gorakhpur, the Yogi in control is business as usual. ***Every story about Adityanath in Gorakhpur traces itself back to a Panchrukhiya village incident of February 1999. Like now, there was a BJP government in the state (CM Kalyan Singh) and at the Centre (Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee). A newly elected MP, Adityanath had agreed to visit a village about 40 km away in Maharajganj district after locals complained that their peepal tree had been uprooted by members of the minority community. Locals say Adityanath not only gave an incendiary speech but got several peepal trees planted near the graveyard in his presence. On its way back, Adityanath’s team happened to pass by a public meeting being addressed by then Samajwadi Party leader Talat Aziz, as part of the party’s Jail Bharo Andolan against the BJP government. “Suddenly, there was firing, probably aimed at me. But it hit Head Constable Satyaprakash Yadav, deployed in my duty, who later succumbed to the injuries. We ran into the neighbouring fields to save ourselves,” says Aziz, who is now 65 and unsuccessfully contested the recent Assembly elections from Paniyara on a Congress ticket. The BJP’s Gyanendra won. Both police and Aziz filed an FIR in the case, which was met by Yogi’s supporters with a counter-FIR. While a final report has been submitted in the case by the CB-CID, it is still under consideration of the court, says Aziz’s lawyer Abdul Hameed Khan. “I am not sure how I will pursue the case,” says Aziz. “It was difficult to find a lawyer when he was just an MP. Now he is the CM.” Fresh peepal trees now stand at a distance from the graveyard, while Hindus have a cremation ground nearby. While kabristaan vs shamshaan was an issue in this Assembly election, in and around Gorakhpur, graveyards have often found themselves at the centre of local skirmishes. Adityanath, meanwhile, hasn’t lost an election in Gorakhpur since 1999. Since he formed the Hindu Yuva Vahini in 2002, his victory margin has kept increasing. At the time, he had said the Vahini was formed to control “religious conversions”, and to stop cow slaughter and “crimes against Hindu women” — all issues picked up by the BJP at different times. Over the years, as the Vahini spread its roots down to the panchayat level, the cases against it have mounted, across at least seven districts. Adityanath has never disowned activities of the Vahini. Its state president Sunil Singh was removed recently, but for trying to field members of the Vahini against BJP candidates. Since Adityanath became an MP, Gorakhpur has seen another small, significant change. Localities such as Alinagar and Urdu Bazaar near the math have acquired new names, adopted by many on shops and addresses — Aryanagar and Hindu Bazaar. *** The Gorakhnath Temple Trust and its affiliates have at least 44 institutions linked to them, located in Gorakhpur, adjoining districts and Varanasi. The corridors of these tell another story concerning the all-controlling Yogi. Most of these institutions, they claim, have CCTVs directly linked to Adityanath’s mobile. “We get a call from the Maharaj himself if a doctor or nurse is not attending to a patient,” says Dr Devi Prasad, Deputy Chief Medical Superintendent of Guru Gorakhnath Hospital. Trust staff don’t want to speculate if Adityanath would have that kind of involvement now. The Yogi has no second in command here, and most of the Trust institutions have an empty chair covered with a saffron cloth kept for him. At Digvijai Nath Post Graduate College in Gorakhpur, the chair lies in a corner of Principal Shailendra Pratap Singh’s room. Pointing to the “Peethadhish-war” chair, Singh says, “It is cleaned regularly but no one sits on it except Maharaj.” No one within the Trust hierarchy is also ready to talk about its finances, either earnings or spending, even on incomes. The only figure that Pradeep Rao, who looks after communications for the Trust’s institutions and is also principal of its Maharana Pratap Post Degree College, concedes is that the 800 acres over which its organisations are spread is worth upwards of Rs 500 crore. The main Gorakhnath Temple campus is spread over 56 acres, and apart from the temple, includes a hospital, an ayurvedic centre, a Sanskrit school with a hostel, a nursing institute, a gaushala with about 500 cows and a vermi-compost plant, a dharamshala, and auditorium. It’s from this gaushala that cows are likely to be sent to Adityanath’s CM residence, says chief gwala (milkman) Shiv Persand. He isn’t sure who will look after them there, but believes “Maharaj has the answers”. Rao says that apart from institutions, the Trust owns 500 acres of both agricultural and forest land in Chowk Bajar area, which holds another gaushala and farms. A temple in Balrampur district is spread over 125 acres. The 13 cooks in the main kitchen of the math make food for about 450 people daily. Apart from this, meals are provided to some of the schools and colleges run by the Trust at subsidised rates. Teachers claim the menu is decided by Adityanath. Most of the Trust’s schools — managed by the Maharana Pratap Shiksha Parishad, with Adityanath as the secretary of the board — are “aided schools”. It means the state government appoints their teachers and pays their salaries, while the campus and other activities are managed by the trust. Some new schools are “self-financed” ones affiliated to the CBSE. The Trust also runs five colleges, a polytechnic, a tailoring college and a nursing school. Ram Bhajan Sahani, who runs a photocopy shop in the city, says, “The annual fee at the colleges is around Rs 4,000 per annum. Most of the children of our locality go to colleges run by the Trust as it has good facilities and the fees is low.” At least 18,000 students are enrolled in these institutions at present. The most successful of the Trust’s ventures though are its three hospitals, including one that is ayurvedic. The main hospital, set up by Adityanath in 2003, has 350 beds, 22 departments, a blood bank with platelet segregation facilities to handle dengue cases, and 440 staff members. The main draw are the charges — OPD fee of Rs 30, valid for 15 days, a bed for Rs 250, and meals for Rs 10. Patients come from as far as Nepal. Saleem Sheikh, 60, the imam at a masjid in Betia area of Bihar, has come with a femur bone fracture. Hospitals back in Betia were demanding at least Rs 50,000, he says. At the Sanskrit school, students line up to touch the feet of their teachers before classes. Principal Arvind Kumar Chaturvedi admits the number of students drops towards senior classes. “Students need commercial and modern education, including English, commerce, computers etc. Only then can they compete with the outside world,” he says. *** The office of the Hindu Yuva Vahini is located on the first floor of a saffron-coloured building called ‘Hindu Bhawan’, near the Gorakhpur Railway Station. The locals call its men, identifiable by the saffron stoles they wear around their necks, as ‘Yogi ki Sena’. The Vahini was announced by Adityanath in April 2002, on the day of Ram Navmi. The Vahini sees itself as a cultural organisation, but is more known for spearheading campaigns on issues such as ‘love jihad’, cow slaughter, ‘atrocities against Hindus’, and conversions. Its members face cases of rioting, violating prohibitory orders, causing hurt to public servants, criminal intimidation and under the Gangster Act. Sunil Singh, who was the Vahini’s UP chief till recently and is among its founder members, is a history-sheeter, with a string of cases registered against him at Harpur Budhat Police Station in Gorakhpur, including of rioting and under the Gangster Act. He was removed from the Vahini post for indiscipline, but with no one appointed in his place, he is confident of coming back. Singh, 42, says the Vahini was formed “as a need was felt to have a new organisation of youths to counter the growing attacks on Hindus, especially Dalits and women”. “There was arajakta (anarchy) in Poorvanchal. Madarsas were coming up in a large number and there was human as well as drug trafficking on the India-Nepal border. The government was not acting,” he says. Singh adds that they considered many names, including ‘Gau Raksha Sena’ and ‘Yuva Vahini’, and that Adityanath finally suggested that they add Hindu to the latter. “Poorvanchal ke dushashan se nipatne ke liye, Hinduon, Daliton, mahilaon ke samman ke liye, yuvaon ki sena sakriya hui (To rid Poorvanchal of misrule, to protect the honour of Hindus, Dalits and women, an army of youth was created),” he says. Singh proudly admits to the 70-odd cases against him in different police stations of Poorvanchal. “The cases will come if you fight against the misrule of a government. But now our sacrifices have paid off with Maharaj becoming the CM,” he says. Manoj Kumar, who runs a news website, says the Vahini is sustained by only one thing: fear. “From 2002 to 2007, it was involved in bandhs leading to communal tension. Local issues were blown up. We approached the NHRC, but nothing happened,” he says. “There is no fear bigger than that of public humiliation or of being beaten up. It is this fear which makes people afraid of them.” While Adityanath had said the Vahini would not be a political organisation, its office-bearers have become MLAs this time. Raghvendra Pratap Singh won from Domariyaganj, Rakesh Singh Baghel from Mehndhawal, and Shyam Dhani Rahi from Kapilvastu. All face cases. At 50, 47 and 65, they are also far from an “army of youth”. *** People in the math say Adityanath shares many similarities with Mahant Digvijay Nath, the chief priest in the early 1930s, who was reportedly as aggressive. Digvijay Nath also dabbled in active politics. In 1962, his disciple Avaidyanath became an MLA from Maniram on a Hindu Mahasabha ticket. Five years later, Digvijay Nath himself won a parliamentary election as an Independent, but died soon after. Avaidyanath went on to win five more times, till 1977, from Maniram. In 1989, Avaidyanath moved on to Parliament, as a Hindu Mahasabha candidate from Gorakhpur. Having played a significant role in the BJP’s Ram Mandir movement, he swept the next two Lok Sabha elections as well, in 1991 and 1996, on a BJP ticket. After Avaidyanath, disciple Adityanath has kept the seat in the BJP’s kitty. By 1994, when he was just 22, Adityanath was declared Avaidyanath’s heir. Not much is known about Adityanath’s own role in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, but those in the math at that time say his sharpness, his commitment to lead an unmarried life even at the age of 22 and his resolve to get things done were what attracted Avaidyanath to him. “He never questioned Bade Mahant and did exactly what he said,” says Dwarika Tiwari, in-charge of the math office since the time of Avaidyanath. Initially, though, math insiders admit, the young Adityanath made as much news for his quick temper. He would jump into minor incidents and hold protests or sabhas. Many later resulted in cases against him, including the Panchrukhiya 1999 case. Dwarika Tiwari also remembers that Adityanath was often pulled up by Avaidyanath for driving rashly. On January 26, 2007, there was an incident of firing at a Moharram procession in Gorakhpur after complaints by a Raj Kumar Agrahari and others that boys who had teased girls had mingled with the juloos. In the violence that followed, Agrahari was beaten to death. The next day, amidst communal tension in the area, Adityanath allegedly gave a controversial speech outside the Gorakhpur railway station. A video-tape submitted as evidence, sent for forensic test, claims to feature him as saying, “Ek Hindu ke khoon ke badle aane wale samay mein hum prashashan se FIR darj nahin karwayenge. Balki kam se kam das aise logon ki hatya usse karwayenge (From now on, if a Hindu’s blood is shed, we won’t go to the administration for an FIR. Instead, we will ensure he kills at least 10 in return).” The case is still on in court. The complainant, Parvez Parwaz, says the CB-CID has sought permission for prosecution, which is pending with the state government. On January 28, 2007, in the run-up to state elections, Adityanath was arrested for allegedly trying to force his way into a sensitive area in Gorakhpur and spent 11 days in judicial custody. The Mulyam Singh Yadav-led state government also withdrew the security provided to him. In March 2007, Adityanath broke down in Parliament, asking whether the House could protect him. After this, math inmates say, Adityanath “mellowed down”. “He also stopped personally visiting every time to settle disputes,” says another staff member at his office. But not everything has changed. Pointing to a woman and her daughter sitting outside Adityanath’s office to seek help regarding the latter’s marital dispute, Dwarka Tiwari says, “We sort out issues right from revenue to marriages and land disputes. Both the parties are called and a panchayat takes place.” What if one of the parties does not agree? Tiwari says, “It is all about faith. In most cases, they agree. If they do not, they are free to take their own course.” He doesn’t remember the last time this happened. The few times it did, he adds, the parties didn’t return.
