BJP President Nitin Nabin to Lead Save Democracy Padyatra in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur on November 4-5
Bharatiya Janata Party national president Nitin Nabin will undertake a two-day organisational visit to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh on November 4 and 5, during which he will lead the party’s ‘Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy’ march and hold a series of meetings with senior leaders, office-bearers and public representatives ahead of the upcoming state Assembly elections. According to an official statement from the BJP, Nabin is scheduled to arrive in Gorakhpur on Wednesday morning and lead the padyatra in the afternoon as part of the party’s nationwide ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao’ campaign.
The padyatra will commence at 12 noon from Maharana Pratap Inter College and conclude at the Mata Kali Temple near the Sardar Patel statue in the district. Following the march, the BJP chief is set to reach the Annexe Bhawan in Taramandal, where he will interact with intellectuals and prominent citizens of the society. On the second day of his visit, on Thursday, Nabin will offer prayers at the Baba Gorakhnath Temple in the morning, with traditional rituals for the prosperity and well-being of the state and the country, and will chair important organisational meetings with the state’s top leadership, current and former public representatives and office-bearers.
The Gorakhpur visit is part of a wider week of padyatras by senior BJP leaders across Uttar Pradesh’s six regions, under the party’s month-long ‘Save Democracy, End Anarchy’ campaign. On November 3, Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan led a padyatra in Lucknow’s Awadh region while Union minister JP Nadda led a march in Bareilly in the Braj region. On November 4, Nabin leads the Gorakhpur march while Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya leads the march in Prayagraj. On November 5, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will lead a similar yatra in Ghaziabad while Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak leads the march in Kanpur.
The campaign has been launched by the BJP to counter the INDIA bloc’s protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral irregularities, and to present the party’s case directly to the public. Earlier, Nabin led ‘Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy’ rallies in Delhi, Haryana, Bihar and West Bengal, and Home Minister Amit Shah led a march in Hyderabad in support of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The BJP says its workers are taking to the streets to protect democracy and constitutional institutions and to create awareness among the people, while accusing the Opposition of blaming electronic voting machines and the Election Commission after electoral defeats.
For Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are approaching, the Gorakhpur programme carries organisational significance as well as campaign value. Gorakhpur is the home turf of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and the BJP’s meetings there will review election preparedness, coordination between the party organisation and public representatives, and outreach to different sections of society. Party leaders say the padyatras aim to involve civil society and to convey the party’s message on the Opposition’s protests, and the Gorakhpur march, beginning from an educational institution and ending at a temple, is designed to draw students, workers and local residents into the campaign.
