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Journalism of Courage
As political parties gear for Assembly elections, this town in eastern Uttar Pradesh, a region over which the BJP has considerable hold, finds itself in the grip of communal tension. What began as a brawl at a marriage party three days ago has escalated into clashes between two communities and curfew has been imposed on affected areas.
After relative calm on Sunday, sporadic violence broke out in the town today, with followers of BJP MP Yogi Adityanath burning shops and vehicles in the Gorakhnath temple area, considered his stronghold. At least half dozen shops, including three godowns, and two vehicles were set ablaze.
According to eyewitnesses, the rioters broke open the locks of three gowdowns in the Zmaia Nagar area of the city. These shops are located along a bylane close to one boundary wall of the Gorakhnath Temple. Later, the members of both the communities pelted stone on each other.
The government has suspended the Gorakhpur police chief, SSP Raja Srivastava, and three other police officers. District Magistrate Hari Om has also been suspended.
When contacted, the ADM (City) P K Agarwal said six companies of PAC and two companies of RAF have been deployed in different sensitive areas of the city. “We have also engaged eight Magistrate to bring the situation under control,” he added.
“We had to lob tear gas shells to disperse the mob of rioters. The stone pleting stone continued at least for one hour,” an RAF jawan said.
Abrar Aalam, owner of one godowns, said: “I was not alone in this business. My partner in this business is Ranjit Verma of Basantpur. We have lost more than seven lakhs in this incident due to torching of our godown.”
The administration has deployed a large number of RAF jawans for the security of the Gorakhnath temple. A few metres from the temple, a tractor of health department was set on fire.
Late in the evening, a mob in the Rajghat area caught a youth and thrashed him. He was also shot by someone in the mob and is being treated in hospital. Away from the town, in Gagha, a place of worship was set ablaze.
The violence began on Saturday, with a brawl over lewd remarks made about a dancer at a marriage party spilling over to the streets. Police said people in a Moharram procession passing by apparently mistook it for an attack and this led to stone-pelting, arson, and an attack on a religious place. One person died in hospital.
The matter did not end there. On Sunday, the BJP MP from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath, and his followers demanded a bandh in all seven districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh. They decided on a protest march, despite curfew orders. Organisers of a Moharram procession, too, insisted it would proceed through curfew-bound areas of the town.
Sunday passed off peacefully, with curfew being relaxed for the Moharram procession. Adityanath was arrested amid high drama as he led his supporters in procession. The other leaders who have been taken in custody include YD Singh, MLC, Radha Mohan Agrawal, Hindu Mahasabha MLA and Shiv Prakash Shukla, a BJP leader.
After violence began on Monday morning, police clamped curfew in areas under the jurisdiction of Gorakhnath Police Station. Meanwhile, the police continued to patrol in the curfew-bound areas of three police stations Kotwali, Tewaripur and Rajghat.
Communal tension also gripped a part of Maharajganj district, neighbouring Gorakhpur. “We lodged at least three FIRs against rioters in Paniyara police station of our district. The troublemakers set one motorcycle and a small shop in the area of same police station. We have arrested 20 persons so far. Police patrolling has been intensified,” Maharajganj SSP Amitabh Thakur said.
