"Varanasi was overtaken by nerve biting tension when belligerent RSS and BJP cadres took over the roads in power -led protests against the constitutional body, the Election Commission of India..."
BJP MP for Azamgarh, Ramakant Yadav, in a speech to supporters: "I stand against Muslims everywhere..." This instance of openly communal campaigning was not widely reported.
"Mayawati’s ability to upturn the Bharatiya Janata Party’s bullock cart has started becoming visible on the ground... In the majority of the constituencies in eastern Uttar Pradesh, or Poorvanchal as they are collectively called, the elephant is moving steadily, making it difficult for the BJP to take major advantage of whatever wave its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has generated in the region..."
The Modi wave in UP is not exactly as the BJP wants us to believe. Complex caste politics and rivalry amongst BJP leaders means there are a number of "problem constituencies" for the BJP.
"February 1992. In the midst of a political storm stirred by the Ram Mandir movement, Mahant Lal Das, the then chief priest of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple inside the Babri Masjid complex in Ayodhya was murdered. The search began for a new mahant, one with a clean reputation and free of any criminal charges or political motives. It was after much difficulty that Satyendra Das was appointed the new mahant.
If one tries to understand the developments in Gorakhpur and its neighbouring areas of eastern Uttar Pradesh (Poorvanchal) from January 26 to 31, 2007 through the eyes of the print and electronic media, one moves further away from the truth. It is a sordid story of a highly communalised media conjuring up a riot, collaborating with BJP MP Yogi Adityanath, a Bal Thackeray clone and heir to the Gorakhnath Peeth operating from the Gorakhnath temple.
