On Wednesday (3rd January), two individuals were apprehended for issuing bomb threats targeting the Shri Ram Temple, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and the chief of the UP Police Special Task Force (STF). It was discovered that Devendra Tiwari, the head of NGOs named Bharatiya Kisan Manch and Bharatiya Gau Seva Parishad, masterminded the plot.
After Devendra Tiwari was named in the case, several people, including the Congress party and Alt News cofounder Mohammed Zubair are accusing that he is linked with BJP. They have been sharing photographs showing Tiwari with BJP leaders like UP CM Yodi Adityanath.
Uttar Pradesh Sevadal posted such an image on Twitter showing Tiwari meeting Yogi Adityanath, to insinuate that he has links with BJP.
सीएम योगी को गुलदस्ता देता शख़्स देवेंद्र तिवारी,जो भारतीय किसान मंच और भारतीय गौसेवा परिषद NGO का अध्यक्ष है।
— Uttar Pradesh Congress Sevadal (@SevadalUP) January 4, 2024
राम मंदिर, सीएम योगी और एसटीएफ प्रमुख को उड़ाने की धमकी की साजिश रचने वाला मास्टरमाइंड।
फिलहाल फरार है।
गिरफ्तार हुए युवकों का नाम ताहर सिंह और ओमप्रकाश मिश्रा है। pic.twitter.com/4EaeTl0SRi
Samajwadi Prahari, the mouthpiece of Samajwadi Party, claimed that Tiwari is a BJP supporter and close to several BJP leaders.
ये हैं देवेन्द्र तिवारी, गौरक्षक.
— Samajwadi Prahari (@SP_Prahari) January 4, 2024
उनका जन्म उत्तर प्रदेश में एक ब्राह्मण परिवार में हुआ था।
वह भाजपा के मतदाता और समर्थक हैं और भाजपा नेताओं के बहुत करीबी हैं।
हाल ही में शारिक खान और जुबैर खान की मेल आईडी से राम मंदिर, यूपी के सीएम, एसटीएफ चीफ और देवेंद्र तिवारी को बम से… https://t.co/poOlKDnbOe
‘Fact checker’ Zubair also shared the photo saying that Tiwari had shared the image of him meeting Yogi Adityanath and had assured full support to BJP in 2022 assembly elections.
Shares an Image of him meeting CM Yogi Adityanath and assuring full support to BJP in Assembly election 2022. pic.twitter.com/56W62xOM4b
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) January 3, 2024
Zubair also shared social media posts of Tiwari extending support to BJP, along with an acknowledgement letter by the party.
While it is a fact that Devendra Tiwari had met Yogi Adityanath and extended support to BJP, opposition parties and others missed a crucial fact. That fact is, Tiwari has hobnobbed with several different political parties in the past, including Congress and SP.
Tiwari has used the photo of him meeting the UP CM as the banner image in his Facebook profile, but the photos in the same profile shows that he does not have any special ties with BJP, and he meets leaders of almost all political parties. As he heads Bharatiya Kisan Manch, he is actively involved in farmer politics, and is seen with Rakesh Tikait in many photos. He also participated in the farmer protests.
Notably, Devendra Tiwai fought the Zila Panchayat elections in 2015 from a Samajwadi Ticket. He was a candidate from Sarojini Nagar from the party. He was seen with banners of SP featuring images of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav.
In the 2017 assembly elections, he supported SP candidate Anurag Yadav from Sarojini Nagar assembly constituency.
He was also associated with the Congress party in the same period. In 2016, he posted a photo of himself with the Congress hand symbol superimposed on it. He is seen with Sheila Dikshit in the same year in a photo he posted on Facebook. In the same year, he was also seen in a Congress rally in Varanasi, joining the campaign for Congress candidate Rajendra Mishra from Varanasi South in assembly polls.
Devendra Tiwari’s social media history shows that he was an opponent of BJP till 2021. Apart from participating in SP and Congress events, he regularly posted messages supporting these two parties, apart from supporting the farmer organisations protesting against the BJP government. He also actively took part in the anti-farm law protests.
However, he seems to have pivoted to have a favourable view of the BJP in 2021. He started supporting BJP candidates in local body polls in that year. Devendra Tiwari posted the photos of him meeting Yogi Adityanath and other BJP leaders in March 2022. During this time he also assured support to the BJP.
However, this does not mean that he has any special affiliation with BJP. He continues to be part of farmer movements, being the chief of Bharatiya Kisan Manch. While has only promised to BJP, he actually contested election on a SP tickets. Moreover, he campaigned for both SP and Congress candidates in the 2017 assembly polls.
As per the police, Devendra Tiwari hatched the entire plan to send threatening messages to gain political prominence. It has been alleged he had asked his employees Tahar Singh and Om Prakash Mishra to send the threat emails using fake names, so that he can demand more security from the government. A terrorist threat and govt security will improve his political stature, he had thought.
The emails had threatened bomb attacks against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, STF Chief Amitabh Yash, Devendra Nath Tiwari, and the upcoming Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
