Gorakhpur: BJP tries to regain its stronghold, with help of some star power

East UP remains an impoverished region where development, employment and caste remain the crucial deciding factors

Ravi Kishan tied an orange safa (turban) around his head as his SUV stopped at a village named Domari No. 1. Kishan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from the city of Gorakhpur, is also called ‘Amitabh Bachchan of the East’, a superstar of Bhojpuri cinema in eastern Uttar Pradesh (UP) with 600 films to his name.

A woman from the village who saw his cavalcade stop could hardly believe her eyes--a star had actually stepped off the silver screen and stood right in front of her. She abandoned her egg stall, switched off the chulha (stove)