Dear Maharaj ji, by way of introduction, I am Divyanshu Singh s/o Sunil Singh (the man who once staked his life to save yours and also the former state president of your organization Hindu Yuva Vahini and current national president of Hindu Yuva Vahini Bharat).

It has been almost a month since my father has been behind the bars for reasons which the ruling party felt would best suit to ensure that he is serving maximum imprisonment time and doesn’t come out before 2019 elections. I will be writing to almost all the political leaders of the country and also to each and every possible front, but this one is specifically for you for the reasons which not only affects my family but affects each and every family of the state that you are currently ruling.

For the people who are reading this and are not aware of Sunil Singh, this is why I am writing to Maharaj ji. I will give you a short introduction from my end. My father, Sunil Singh, is the current president of Hindu Yuva Vahini Bharat, a political party incorporated to raise the issues which his ex-party Hindu Yuva Vahini (organization owned by Maharaj ji) used to raise when Maharaj ji was MP from Gorakhpur and was far away from the mainstream political arena. He has worked with Maharaj ji for more than 22 years. For him, Maharaj ji was once a guru, a family member and a teacher, which was actually the case until 2017 elections. But in 2017 assembly elections, when BJP did not give sufficient authority to Maharaji ji for ticket distributions, my father went against BJP and with the series of events which took place later, Maharaj ji became the Chief Minister of the state and my father was expelled from the party which he built single handedly over the years. Still, everything went well until four months ago when my father started his own party Hindu Yuva Vahini Bharat and within a short span of four months the party grew exponentially and added more than three lakh members and expanded in over sixteen states; this is the time when Maharaj ji’s goverment thought of my father again and immediately, after a massive party march in Basti district of the State, looking at the growth of the party and the enthusiasm of the people, my father was put behind the bars for all the possible list of fake charges.

Coming back to the topic now, Maharaj ji, I totally understand that you are a saint and you really don’t care about anyone specifically but I just have a couple of questions for you, knowing that I cannot meet you personally now in any way, I am writing to you an open letter and this is probably the least I can do for my father.

I have never seen my father at home during my early childhood because he was always away with you in some or the other meeting/ party activity. I rarely remember my early days except year 2008 (my birthday is on August 15, which also happens to be the Independence Day). In the year 2008, as usual, my father was away arranging some rally for you in Azamgarh district and I celebrated my birthday alone with my other family members. However, I was shocked to know that on September 7, 2008 when your rally was attacked in Azamgarh, my father jumped on a live petrol bomb to save your life. At that time I was really disappointed to see my father caring for your life over his entire family but as usual we made peace with things. Exactly ten years later, it was my 18th birthday on August 15, 2018 when my father promised that this time he will be with me but instead your government put him behind bars as my birthday gift; your government gave him a Rashuka charge on the night of August 15 when the entire nation was celebrating Independence. I cried a lot not because of what was happening but because I fail to understand how you can be so emotionless behind the shadow of politics. This is for everyone one who is into politics, is this the way it is?

Maharaj ji, I may not be mature enough to understand everything but I certainly do understand that politics makes you do things you don’t want to do otherwise but is it really necessary to go to this level?

What is wrong if a person whom you taught things once is now taking over your principles and trying to do what you once started?

Why is media under so much pressure that even after covering everything multiple times no one is airing anything on electronic media or even in print media at the state level or national level?

Religion is something which you are not born with, you inherit it. I am not against any religion; rather, as a matter of fact, I have more friends of other religions than my own but if a person is born and brought up in a place which is apparently just few kilometers away from the birthplace of Lord Ram and another few kilometers away from the holy Kaashi, a person who has spent his entire adulthood in your company, a person whose religion has taught him more than anyone can think of, then what will that person’s goals in life be other than his religion and its survival? This was the reason why my father formed his new party but still the motto remains the same of the ex-party Hindu Yuva Vahini. How can that be a reason for him to be imprisoned?

When you are in politics, various criminal and non- criminal charges are the perks which you get over time but I fail to understand that if my father was just protesting in front of a police station for the release of his party members, how can that add up to this level ? And if that is the case then why was the police officer suspended when BJP youth wing tore his clothes while he was trying to stop the protest on August 21, 2018 in Lucknow? Why were your MLA’s supporters beating up police officers in the state capital on August 22, 2018? Why was a lady police officer was publicly insulted in Gorakhpur only last year by a BJP party member? My point is, if there are so many extreme things happening and still the government is silent, then why is a person who is just protesting in front of a police station for his own party members is arrested and charged with multiple charges?

What lessons are you giving to us, the younger generation? Being in politics is not easy, you get charges again and again but that is not the end of the story, there is always a new beginning and a fresh start, with all genuine due respect, going by Wikipedia, current ruling party president, Shri Amit Shah ji has also suffered so much of this that he was arrested in a murder case on July 25, 2010; all the leaders of Gujarat distanced themselves from him, he was exiled from his own state for more than two years. But with time truth comes out, he came out all clean and now is the head of the ruling party of the country and is also indirectly your head. Maharaj ji, please think about all this, it’s all about time but I still see the same you, whom I have seen for my entire life – my father’s teacher and a family member. Please don’t get way too distracted by the political arena that you start teaching something which we don’t expect from you. And time again here, I am just eighteen now, by the time I reach your age, I might also become the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, who knows. But trust me, I do want to see you with us, in the same capacity as I have always seen.

It’s a genuine request, an open request rather, that please stop this, if your closest aide’s family can suffer so much, anyone’s family can, in the entire state. If in the twenty first century also Gorakhpur’s administration can take such barbaric steps (the one that they took during the Independence week) then it’s the era of authoritarianism and not yours, that’s what it means to me.

Again, from what I have understood, any government survives only when there is visible growth and the citizens are happy; Singapore has only one party ruling since 1959 on the basis of pure politics with growth as agenda and during all these years, no one had to go behind the bars for politically motivated reasons. Sons did not have to write open letters to the leaders for their families, they were heard when required. Point is, sustainable politics is the only way out and not the kind which is happening in our state!

It is a genuine request from me and from every son of Uttar Pradesh that please do not bring politics to such a level that we lose our faith in humanity. Almost everyone in and around Gorakhpur suspects that whatever is happening with my father is happening with state government’s direct instructions but I still have faith in you and hope that you are not behind all this. Looking forward for your help, support and co-operation in doing what is right and not what is politically required for 2019 elections.

Also if I have offended you in any way, please don’t resist in ordering imprisonment for me as well. But just one request – please put me in the same jail where my father is.

Because this is an open letter, for the readers who want to read further, please refer to the following links:

Murder of national president of Hindu Yuva Vahini Bharat is being conspired

“I revolted to stand against the insult of Yogi”

Thank You,

Divyanshu Singh

(Kishan)