Revision as of 18:26, 9 April 2017

2006, did not help in Ajmer Sharif blast

Bharti Jain, In '06, Yogi had snubbed Ajmer Sharif blast convict Mar 25, 2017: The Times of India

HIGHLIGHTS

Yogi had shrugged off Sunil Joshi when he met him at Gorakhpur to seek his help to “arrange some SIM cards and weapons."

In Aseemanand's “confessional“ statement, he was told by Sunil Joshi in June 2006 that he had not got any help from either Yogi or Rajeshwar Singh.

UP CM Yogi Aditya Nath had shrugged off Sunil Joshi, a convict in the 2007 Ajmer Sharif blast case, when he met him at Gorakhpur in 2006 to seek his help to "arrange some SIM cards and weapons", according to Swami Aseemanand's "confessional" statement recorded under Section 164 of CrPC but retracted later.

TOI, based on a reconstruction of events from statements recorded before a magistrate by Aseemanand and Bharat Mohan Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai, both accused in the Ajmer blast who are now acquitted by Special NIA court, Jaipur, has found that Sunil Joshi and Bharat Bhai had a meeting with Yogi Adityanath, then MP from Gorakhpur, in April 2006, at Aseemanand's behest. The latter had directed them in March 2006 to go to Agra to meet local Rajeshwar Singh and then get an audience with Yogi in Gorakhpur.

The two first went to Agra, where they met Rajeshwar who then took them to Gorakhpur to meet Yogi Adityanath. However, when they did get a chance to meet Yogi alone, he, as per the statement of Aseemanand recorded before a magistrate as well as an ac count provided by Bharat Bhai in his own statement under Section 164 of CrPC, showed no interest in their conversation and asked them to come back another day . "I am busy . You may meet me again after duly seeking time," Yogi was quoted by Bharat Bhai and Aseemanand as saying.

Joshi and Bharat Bhai thereafter left Gorakhpur and made no attempt to seek a second meeting with Yogi Aditya Nath. In fact, as per Aseemanand's "confessional" statement, he was told by Sunil Joshi in June 2006 that he had not got any help from either Yogi or Rajeshwar Singh.

Interestingly, Aseemanand later retracted the aforesaid confessional statement, claiming that it was made under duress. A NIA court acquitted Swami Aseemanand, Bharat Bhai as well as others in the Ajmer blasts case but convicted three others --Sunil Joshi (deceased), Devendra Singh and Bhavesh Patel.An NIA officer said that there was no scope for examining Yogi while probing the Ajmer blasts, as the statements of both Aseemanand and Bharat Bhai established that he had paid no heed to their alleged subversion plan, let alone be a party to the same. NIA had taken over probe into the Ajmer Sharif dargah blasts in 2011.

Why Yogi Adityanath was made UP CM

Rohini Singh, Why Narendra Modi and Amit Shah picked Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh CM, Mar 20, 2017, The Times of India

HIGHLIGHTS

Modi and Shah always considered Yogi Adityanath a strong candidate.

Surveys showed popularity, campaigning showed discipline and appeal across states.

Contrary to media reports that Yogi Adityanath was a "surprise" choice as BJP's chief minister for Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah had always considered the Gorakhpur sanyasi+ as a strong contender.

The reasons were the Yogi's popularity, political heft, his appeal across castes and his demonstration of discipline in this round of polling. ET spoke to several top BJP leaders for this story. They all spoke on the condition they not be identified.

Several months before UP's election campaign started, Shah, a senior leader said, had asked home minister Rajnath Singh whether the latter wants to be BJP's CM candidate. Shah told Singh there are only two names, the minister's and the Yogi's, as possible CM candidates. The leader quoted above said Singh expressed his reluctance on becoming BJP's CM candidate and also argued the party should fight polls without formally identifying a face.

But that conversation, this leader told ET, was very early proof of how seriously the Yogi was being considered as a CM choice. And BJP's top leadership had data to back their preference.

Another leader said every survey commissioned by BJP in UP showed that, among voters at large, Yogi Adityanath was just a point behind Rajnath Singh in terms of acceptance as CM candidate.

And, among BJP supporters, the two were tied. These surveys, and Singh's unwillingness to come back to UP administration, had made Yogi a strong CM post contender much before UP's voters delivered a massive verdict for BJP.

That Yogi Adityanath's stature as a star campaigner helped his case has been mentioned. But that he showed "great discipline" in combating dissent in his stronghold of eastern UP is less well known, another senior BJP leader told ET, adding that the way the Yogi mastered that "political challenge" made him an even stronger candidate for the top job. This party senior said most of BJP's ticket distribution hassles were concentrated in the last phases of UP's 7-phase polls when eastern UP voted. "Several rebel candidates were contesting," this leader said, "but the Yogi worked very hard and in Gorakhpur, especially, went for door-to-door campaigning. He ensured all rebels lost. No other leader worked this hard or faced more challenges in the election than Yogi".

Another leader said Modi's and Shah's faith in Adityanath was demonstrated when they did not buy into reports that the eastern UP leader was behind some dissenting sections. "No one sought an answer from him. Some of our own leaders thought Adityanath can be a stumbling block for the party in Purvanchal. But Modiji and Shah knew that wasn't the case," this leader said.

Plain-speaking, Plain-living A BJP leader from UP recalled how Shah, during the 2014 campaign, had praised the Yogi. "The party chief stayed in the Gorakhpur mutt for a couple of days during the 2014 campaign and was very impressed with Adityanath's disciplined lifestyle, his attention to those in his care, his plain-speaking and his knowledge of history," the leader said.

"But most importantly, The Yogi's contribution to the campaign was most significant. If there was any doubt about his popularity with the cadre, the roadshow with Amit Shah settled it," the person said.

Yogi, many BJP seniors point out, was the only other BJP campaigner apart from Rajnath Singh who was asked to give speeches everywhere in the state during Modi's whirlwind 2014 campaign in UP. "Modi and the Yogi flew to Gorakhpur during the campaign," one leader said, adding the PM and Adityanath have "excellent relations". Such was Shah's faith in the Yogi, another BJP top functionary told ET, that when the party did poorly in state assembly byelections after the massive 2014 Lok Sabha show, the party president didn't blame the eastern UP leader, who was in charge of bypolls. Shah, the leader quoted above said, had argued that bypolls favour the party in power in the state and therefore Adityanath could not be blamed.

And the final factor in the Yogi's elevation was his appeal across castes. As one BJP senior explained it: "Adityanath (a Thakur) is a sanyasi and therefore above caste. And the Gorakhnath peeth has followers largely from backward castes, especially Yadavs...his appeal among backward caste groups is immense." Another BJP leader said the vacuum in Brahmin leadership in the Purvanchal region also helped Adityanath succeed, because Brahmins, numerically stronger than Thakurs in UP, extend support to Adityanath. Top Comment

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"The upper caste is with him and his followers are largely backward castes. In that sense Adityanath, unlike Rajnath Singh or Manoj Sinha or even Keshav Prasad Maurya, has appeal cutting across caste," this leader said. "And many Muslims attend his 9 am to 11 am panchayats in Gorakhpur," he added.