Baba Gorakhnath

LUCKNOW: A Dalit BJP MLA broke down expressing helplessness as no action was allegedly taken on his complaint after ‘powerful men’ assaulted his father and threatened him.

“ Durbhaghya se main Dalit MLA hoon. Shayad is liye mere saath ye atyachar ho raha hai, mere pujya pita ji ko bhi mara gaya, mujhe bhi dhamki dee gayi. Lekin meri hi BJP ki sarkar mein kuch nahi ho raha hai (Unfortunately, I am a Dalit MLA. I am being repeatedly assaulted by powerful people from the upper caste. Even my father was beaten up. I was threatened. But even in my BJP government, no action has been taken against the accused who are powerful),” said Baba Gorakhnath , MLA from the Milkipur reserved constituency while talking to TOI after attending a meeting of the petition committee in the UP Assembly and narrating his woes before principal secretary, home Arvind Kumar.

Saw video of attack on my house and family, says MLA

Along with other MLAs of the BJP and the Opposition, Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit was also present when the Dalit MLA broke down.

Baba Gorakhnath belongs to Gorakhpur. His father was a forest officer in Gorakhpur and the entire family revered the Gorakhnath Math and its head priest Yogi Adityanath then an MP from Gorakhpur. So much so that the forest officer named his first son ‘Gorakhnath’ after the Peeth.

“We are so much devoted to the Math and Yogi Adityanath that I used to write my name as ‘Yogi charan sewak’ and when I became BJP candidate in 2017 election, I wrote my name as Baba Gorakhnath,” said the MLA, who is quite popular in Gorakhpur and Faizabad. He has been elected MLA from Faizabad’s Milkipur assembly constituency, which is reserved.

On July 30, an SUV stopped near his residence in Milkipur, Faizabad in the late night hours and the occupants started abusing his father and kin, threatening the MLA also. He said that at the time of the incident he was not present, but his family members, father and other kin were there and were beaten up and threatened by the assailants.

“My father and kin did not disclose the incident initially to avoid the stigma to the family... I heard about it from neighbours and later saw a video of the attack on my house and family members. Thereafter, I lodged an FIR with the local police on July 31,” recalled Baba Gorakhnath. He said that no action has been taken against the accused, maybe because they are from the upper caste — Rajput. The district administration has only suspended one gunner of former block pramukh Sarvjit Singh, while he should have been arrested and dismissed for assaulting the family of an MLA, he said.

“I feel helpless in my own government. I have tremendous respect for Yogi Adityanath as my mentor, but being a Dalit is a stigma and that is why my own BJP government is not protecting me,” regretted Baba Gorakhnath.

