Demonetisation dented Gorakhpur's crime economy, but may not impact polls

“Demonetisation was certainly a setback,” says Rishi Tripathi, a senior karyakarta (volunteer) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But people have forgotten about it now: The long queues, the wait for cash … we also stood in queues …”

“But we ask the women: Was it as bad as the queues for gas cylinders? Now do you have to stand in queues for gas cylinders? Thus, we fend off one minus with a huge plus.”

The opposition leader, Samajwadi Party candidate Ram Bhuyal Nishad, speaks of nothing but the pain imposed by the goods and services tax (GST) and demonetisation. “Those who spoke of bringing back black money are now not even mentioning it in their speeches. No one has forgotten … no one. Jan Dhan accounts were opened with so much enthusiasm. The government claimed you will get all the subsidies in your account, Forget getting anything, now what we used to get has also stopped coming. All this talk about toilets, homes … it is a cruel joke on the people …,” he says at public meetings.

This much is true. In the months immediately after demonetisation, illegal business that ran on cash — like child trafficking, in which Gorakhpur used to play a big part, using the railway to kidnap children and send them on to work in Mumbai and Delhi in eateries, or the sex trade — came down significantly. The charity Safe Society says 15-20 children used to be rescued from Gorakhpur every month. In December 2016, the number came down to five.

But cash in every form has always played a huge role in the politics and economy of Gorakhpur. The city was, at one time, one of India’s biggest centres of the hawala trade. Barely 100 km from the Nepal border, illegal funds from Nepal would shore up the city’s gold and bullion market and also fund terrorist activities. In June 2018, UP’s specialised agency, the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), arrested an individual who used to transfer Rs 6-8 lakh every day from an account to Gorakhpur to one in Delhi. He was paid a commission of 10 to 20 per cent for this. The transfers came to light after nearly Rs 1 crore had been shifted around and six other people were arrested in Gorakhpur on money-laundering charges.

This is just one incident. For several decades, because of lack of employment, government tenders and purchase of quota used to be the most important sources of commerce and business. Gorakhpur is an important railway town (it holds the record for having the longest railway platform in the world). Extortion, cash for influencing transfers and postings, and gangster activity used to be commonplace. The main leader of mafia activity when it was at height in the 1980s was Harishankar Tiwari, who became an MLA and contested elections seven times. Mafiosi in Gorakhpur was organised along caste lines and Tiwari is the only one who has survived the internecine gang warfare that has claimed more than two dozen lives between 1980 and 1990.

It is the political rise of the Gorakhnath Math that led to the dissipation of the power of the mafias in Gorakhpur. Now Tiwari, a legend of his time who may have been responsible for many murders, is a shadow of his past self. He is hard of hearing, is in the throes of geriatric dementia, and frequently fails to recognise his own sons, both of whom are politicians.

Law and order in Gorakhpur is now in the hands of others.