UP Congress enters saffron den to hold minority meeting

NEW DELHI: If AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh visiting “Azamgarh hot-bed” last week got BJP all worked up, the next in the UP Congress’ schedule could send the saffron camp altogether into a tizzy.

The state Congress will hold a “minority convention” on February 25 at Gorakhpur, the temple town which has been turned into a ‘saffron den’ by BJP Lok Sabha MP Yogi Adityanath. Mr Singh, many senior Congress leaders and social activists will attend the convention meant “to spread the message of communal harmony” in the region.

The move, in effect, is part of the resurgent state Congress’ resolve to take its political battle right into the communally polarised eastern UP. “The Uttar Pradesh PCC will hold a minority convention at Gorakhpur on February 25 to spread the message of communal harmony in the region which has been witnessing social tension due to the activities of many right-wing organisations. Congress is committed to fight Hindu and Muslim extremism alike to place the state on the road to development and harmony,” Mr Singh told ET.

Many Congress leaders believe that, for years, BJP and the Samajwadi Party have been working in tandem “as mutual catering agents of Hindu and Muslim communalism”, in order to keep the state as “their polarised electoral kitty”. They think Congress revival in the state has already hit both SP and BJP and, now, the party should target their remaining strongholds while positioning itself as the principal political challenger to BSP.

Gorakhpur town is the seat of ‘Gorakhnath’ shrine, built in honour of the founder saint Gorakshanath of the ‘Nath Sampradaya’ who was an apostle of peace and communal harmony. Hindutva outfits gradually tightened their grip on the shrine to spread their political activities in the region bordering Nepal.

Its present ‘mahant’ Avaidyanath was a several-time BJP Lok Sabha member. His appointed successor Yogi Adityanath, BJP MP from the area for more than a decade, launched the rabid ‘Hindu Yuva Vahini’ as his political arm in the region.

Mr Singh said his party leaders who were visiting Azamgarh were not only to listen to the grievances of the family members of many local youth arrested in terror cases but were also to advocate the need to fight Hindu and Muslim extremism.

“I am not surprised that our visit was opposed by the Hindu and Muslim communal outfits alike and none else”. He dismissed as “politically motivated and factually inaccurate” the allegation that he was demanding a “soft approach” towards the terror accused and “re-opening of the investigations into the Batla House encounter”.

Mr Singh said: “We went there because Azamgarh has become a case-study since a number of youth, many of them highly educated, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in terrorist cases. And their relatives allege foul play. So we went on a fact-finding mission. Our report to the Congress president also sought setting up of special courts for speedy trial of terror accused.

The Sachar Committee too said the same. Such courts can ensure no one is languishing in jail without a fair trial. If found guilty, punish them, otherwise free them. So, what is wrong?”

Amidst BJP criticism of the Congress leaders’ Azamgarh visit came talk of a “Digvijay-AICC disconnect,” which died a quiet death, following a meeting at 10, Janpath, proposing that Mr Rahul Gandhi too visit the region.