It’s actor vs actress in Yogi bastion of Gorakhpur

GORAKHPUR: One of the most high-profile seats, Gorakhpur, which will vote in the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha polls on June 1, is considered to be the nerve centre of eastern UP politics owing to the aura of the revered Gorakshnath Peeth, influencing the outcome of over half a dozen seats of the division. Be it a Lok Sabha or state assembly election, Gorakhpur’s political fervour is infectious drawing widespread attention.

The bastion of UP CM Yogi Adityanath, who was elected to the Lok Sabha five times from here, it is also the home of the renowned Gita Press and terracotta sculptures, besides being witness to the literary prowess of Munshi Premchand and Firaq Gorakhpuri as well as the revolutionary poetry of Ram Prasad Bismil.

Once infamous for ‘mafia’ and ‘mosquitos’ (root cause of Japanese encephalitis), Gorakhpur had earned the sobriquet of ‘Chicago of East’ when the battle of supremacy between two gangsters Hari Shanker Tiwari and Virendra Pratap Shahi and their aides led to approximately 50 murders. The late 90s even witnessed the meteoric rise of gangsters like Sriprakash Shukla who has his own reign of terror both in UP and Bihar.

However, over the past few years, Gorakhpur has witnessed a massive dip in crime with mafia fiefdoms lying dissipated. Moreover, the menace of Japanese encephalitis (JE), devouring hundreds annually, has also seen a steep fall in deaths.

In the current elections, the constituency is locked in a direct fight between the BJP’s sitting MP and actor Ravi Kishan and Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate and Bhojpuri actress Kajal Nishad. The BSP’s Javed Simnani is seen as making little difference to the outcome.

A BJP stronghold, the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat was represented by Mahants of the Gorakshnath Peeth from 1989 till 2014-17. From 1989 to 1996, Mahant Awaidyanath was Gorakhpur MP followed by Yogi Adityanath who was five-time Gorakhpur MP from 1998 till 2017 till he assumed the office of UP CM.