GORAKHPUR TRAGEDY AND SIMILARITIES WITH THE PAST

Let us go back a little in history.  Narendra Modi had taken charge as Chief Minister of Gujarat on 7th October 2001 after Keshubhai Patel.  He was the first time member in the assembly and was elected the leader of the party to become the CM.  His years of administrative experience in the government machinery was a big zero and the only thing that went for him at the time of his becoming the CM was his ability to lead people and bring them together on a platform.  He was a staunch RSS worker and a committed nationalist. He was handpicked by L K Advani to lead the campaign during the times of state elections in 2001 in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.  As Keshubhai Patel did not handle the post earth quake scenario in Bhuj properly the party asked its general secretary Modi to be the star campaigner and lead the party to be the CM candidate.  Thus a history was made by Modi becoming the first time member of the legislative assembly and a CM in that entry to the august house.  The opposition had been out of power in the state of Gujarat since 1995.  In 2001 October, when the new CM took office, it was an opportunity not to be wasted to bring him down like a ton of bricks.  As God send opportunity (was it or it was premeditated one?) the coach in which the karsevaks who were returning from Ayodhya after offering worship there,  was burnt down in the Godhra junction in Gujarat.  About 60 karsevaks who were traveling in that particular coach lost their lives.  

This incident had a backlash in the form of a section of people attacking the people of other community and looting and setting fire to their trading establishments in Ahmedabad and other places in Gujarat.  The government under the leadership of Modi was totally taken by surprise by the turn of events.  The government was totally unprepared as in the case of Delhi and the Central governments in the 1984 Sikh riots following the assassination of the then sitting Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.  Despite the successor comparing the attack on Sikhs to the tremor felt if a big tree fell, there was no blame attached to him.  However, Modi was not that fortunate enough to escape the blame for the post Godhra incidents in Ahmedabad and other places in Gujarat.  Reams of paper were printed and hours of air time was spent on discussing ad nauseum the post Godhra incident in Gujarat that the main cause for that was totally forgotten.  Various commissions of inquiry and the SIT set up by Supreme court exonerated the then CM and the home minister of the state. However, even today the opposition and part of the media latches onto the Gujarat riots and call it as "Gujarat Pogram" or some even call it genocide and squarely blame the then CM of the state for that.

Coming to 2017, the largest state of UP went for polls and surprisingly the BJP had got a resounding majority in the election to form the government on its own strength as in the case of the last parliamentary election in 2014. The party had won in three out four states which went for polls and in two states they had formed the government and in the largest state where they won the comfortable majority there was a delay in government formation. Even in a state the party could only win that many seats to be number two, the party formed a government in coalition with a minority partner to cobble up a simple majority.  The reasons were not too far to find. There had been too many contenders for the post and if any one of them was made a CM and the other may break away from the party with his followers and weaken the government. Hence, the party imposed a total outsider, Yogi Adiyanath,  a five time sitting parliament member from Gorakhpur constituency of the state to be the CM.  Yogi Adiyanath had been a member of parliament for five terms winning all the time from the same constituency of Gorakhpur.  He is the Mahant or head priest of the Gorakhnath Matt a Hindu temple.  He had done exceptionally wonderful work as the head priest of the local temple and also as a parliamentarian for five terms in his constituency.  Despite his efforts, the state government in the past had not acted upon various complaints about the Japanese Encephalitis that is a recurrent disease in the area in the monsoon and post monsoon periods.  Numerous children had died due to this deadly disease in the past many years.  From a report it is seen that as many as 3000+ children had died in under 6 years till 2017.  The  town of Gorakhpur boasts of a medical college and a hospital both run by the government.  There is a separate department for this dreaded disease under the care of a senior doctor to treat the children.  Despite all this there had been not much improvement in the situation in the past many years.

Now in 2017 July-August, about 60 children died due to JE in the government run BRD college and hospital.  There had been conflicting reports about the senior doctor who was assigned the duty at the department handling the JE cases in the hospital.  The objective of the blog is not to apportion the blame for the tragedy. Its main aim is to draw the parallel to what happened in the early years of Modi as CM for the first time in Gujarat.  Here is Yogi becoming a CM for the first time and he had represented the Gorakhpur constituency for five consecutive terms.  He is well aware of the JE problem in the city affecting the children.  The children died in the hospital due to negligence on the part of the hospital authorities.  But being a government run hospital the blame for that can be squarely placed in the door steps of the government in general and the new CM in particular.  All blame games can start.  The media and the opposition can gang together to vilify the CM and demand his sacking.  What better opportunity than this for the opposition and the media.  

The similarity between what happened in Gujarat in February March 2002 post Godhra carnage and what is happening in Gorakhpur is striking. The media is going to town relentlessly demanding action against the government. The opposition is demanding the scalp of the CM for this tragedy. The shouts in the various endless debates (are they debates or shouting matches, one can wonder) and discussions in the media  and the opposition clamour for action against the government have uncanny parallel with what happened in 2002 in Gujarat.  Are anti national elements who are bent upon creating a law and order situation to get comfort from that and gain a political mileage out that in work here post Gorakhpur tragedy as in the case of Gujarat post Godhra incident. 

The actions of the state and the central governments in response to this tragedy will set the tone for the actions of the anti nationals. However, Yogi will be under permanent scanner as in the case of his illustrious colleague and the present PM Narendra Modi.  This tragic incident alone will be kept alive for the next five years even if some corrective actions are taken by the government.