03-14-2007, 02:09 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Bear with the Yogi </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Gorakhnath head is a victim of terror
When Yogi Adityanath, the BJP MP from Gorakhpur, broke down in the Lok Sabha on Monday he was only drawing national attention to the crisis-like situation in his constituency and its environs, on the eastern edge of Uttar Pradesh. The Yogi and the Gorakhnath seat of which he is the spiritual and temporal inheritor - as successor to the late Mahant Digvijaynath and to the present incumbent, Mahant Avaidyanath - have been the victim of a ferocious campaign in recent months. Led by Muslim criminal gangs that have terrorised citizens in vast swathes of Purvanchal - as eastern Uttar Pradesh is traditionally known - and done so with the full backing of the Samajwadi Party, <b>Gorakhpur's Hindu middle class is leading a terrified existence.</b> As in Ghazipur a year ago, the recent violence in Gorakhpur - glibly termed "communal riots" by a faraway and largely ignorant media - a section of state-backed hoodlums and minor politicians have carried out religion-specific acts of mayhem. Granted, the Yogi has a reputation for temper and is a bit of a turbulent monk himself. Yet, his persona, as much as his moving statement to Parliament, has to be seen in context. <b>The head of the Gorakhnath math is traditionally the secular leader of the local populace as well. This seat is fairly unique in that it is held by Thakurs rather than Brahmins, and in the badlands of Uttar Pradesh's east, it is seen as the defender of the faith and protector of Hindu society. This martial heritage and history explains why members cutting across party lines rushed to Yogi Adityanath's support and sought guarantees for his safety. </b>A CPI MP and a JD(U) MP joined the BJP's deputy leader in petitioning the Lok Sabha Speaker, who has a Marxist background, and the Chair was sympathetic.
<b>Why is the Yogi's case far more important than that of a mere individual? It is for the simple reason that the Gorakhnath math is recognised as a custodian of nationalist interests in an area teeming with subversives.</b> Yogi Adityanath has been protesting against the administration in Lucknow turning a blind eye to increased ISI-linked activity on the Nepal-India border. Mindful of its political allies, the State Government has done nothing. Not that the Centre is particularly bothered either. The old relationship between the royal family and the Hindu nobility of Nepal and the Mahants of Gorakhnath was probably frowned upon by the CPI(M) and the deracinated pseudo-intellectuals who have now grabbed control of the Congress. They too were happy to see Yogi Adityanath suffer, as they were to see his disciples across the international border suffer. Yet the truth cannot be brushed aside forever. The recent travails and humiliation of the Mahant are expected to figure prominently in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, and are said to have already given the BJP a bit of an edge in Gorakhpur and its vicinal districts in Purvanchal. Yogi Adityanath's suffering will not be in vain.
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The Pioneer Edit Desk
Gorakhnath head is a victim of terror
When Yogi Adityanath, the BJP MP from Gorakhpur, broke down in the Lok Sabha on Monday he was only drawing national attention to the crisis-like situation in his constituency and its environs, on the eastern edge of Uttar Pradesh. The Yogi and the Gorakhnath seat of which he is the spiritual and temporal inheritor - as successor to the late Mahant Digvijaynath and to the present incumbent, Mahant Avaidyanath - have been the victim of a ferocious campaign in recent months. Led by Muslim criminal gangs that have terrorised citizens in vast swathes of Purvanchal - as eastern Uttar Pradesh is traditionally known - and done so with the full backing of the Samajwadi Party, <b>Gorakhpur's Hindu middle class is leading a terrified existence.</b> As in Ghazipur a year ago, the recent violence in Gorakhpur - glibly termed "communal riots" by a faraway and largely ignorant media - a section of state-backed hoodlums and minor politicians have carried out religion-specific acts of mayhem. Granted, the Yogi has a reputation for temper and is a bit of a turbulent monk himself. Yet, his persona, as much as his moving statement to Parliament, has to be seen in context. <b>The head of the Gorakhnath math is traditionally the secular leader of the local populace as well. This seat is fairly unique in that it is held by Thakurs rather than Brahmins, and in the badlands of Uttar Pradesh's east, it is seen as the defender of the faith and protector of Hindu society. This martial heritage and history explains why members cutting across party lines rushed to Yogi Adityanath's support and sought guarantees for his safety. </b>A CPI MP and a JD(U) MP joined the BJP's deputy leader in petitioning the Lok Sabha Speaker, who has a Marxist background, and the Chair was sympathetic.
<b>Why is the Yogi's case far more important than that of a mere individual? It is for the simple reason that the Gorakhnath math is recognised as a custodian of nationalist interests in an area teeming with subversives.</b> Yogi Adityanath has been protesting against the administration in Lucknow turning a blind eye to increased ISI-linked activity on the Nepal-India border. Mindful of its political allies, the State Government has done nothing. Not that the Centre is particularly bothered either. The old relationship between the royal family and the Hindu nobility of Nepal and the Mahants of Gorakhnath was probably frowned upon by the CPI(M) and the deracinated pseudo-intellectuals who have now grabbed control of the Congress. They too were happy to see Yogi Adityanath suffer, as they were to see his disciples across the international border suffer. Yet the truth cannot be brushed aside forever. The recent travails and humiliation of the Mahant are expected to figure prominently in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, and are said to have already given the BJP a bit of an edge in Gorakhpur and its vicinal districts in Purvanchal. Yogi Adityanath's suffering will not be in vain.
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