Mathura is a slow-moving city, unhurried and calm. With the temperature touching 43 degrees on a Saturday afternoon in June, the roads were mostly deserted with the exception of a few stray cows, some autos hunting for tourists, and khaki-clad men of the Uttar Pradesh police.

This banal scene was, however, a facade that cracked the moment one listened to the conversations ricocheting in the city that until recently was best known as a pilgrimage site in Uttar Pradesh.

“Itna gola barud aaya kahan se?” (“Where did so much ammunition come from?”)

“Sarkar ne unko rehne hi kyu diya itna time? (“Why did the government let them stay for so long?”)

Questions like these can be heard outside ATMs, tea stalls and other places in Mathura ever since violence erupted in the heart of the city.

A neighbourhood in Mathura named Jawahar Bagh witnessed serious police action on the evening of June 1, from 5 pm to 11 pm. It came as a shock to everyone. The police department lost two officers, Superintendent of Police (City) Mukul Dwivedi and Station House Officer (Farah) Santosh Yadav.

Local editions of newspapers all pointed fingers at the state government, accusing it of misgovernance.

“Prashasanik chuuk se hui Mathura me hinsa, mritak sankhya 27” (Lapse in governance lead to violence in Mathura, 27 dead): Amar Ujala

“Mathura ki Mahabarat me 27 mare” (27 dead in Mathura’s Mahabharat): Hindustan

“Badi chuuk” (Big Mistake): Dainik Jagran

What these headlines hint at but don’t lay bare is how the state is a circuit of crossed wires between religious and political leaders, ever ready to short or fuse.

The rioters at Jawahar Bagh were members of Swadhin Bharat Subhash Sena, led by one Ram Vriksh Yadav. SBSS had made incredulous demands, like demanding petrol sell for one rupee per 60 litres; diesel, for one rupee per 40 litres; and the replacement of the Indian Rupee with the Azad Hind Fauj currency. The organisation also demanded the “cancellation” of the Prime Minister and the President’s “election”. It’s an eccentric manifesto and doesn’t betray just how entangled and dangerous the nexus between the religious and the political is in UP.

The advance of Swadhin Bharat Subhash Sena

Back in January 2014, SBSS was allowed by the District Magistrate to sit in Jawahar Bagh for two days, as a dharna for their absurd demands. Two days passed and Jawahar Bagh residents noticed SBSS hadn’t moved. “Initially there were just 250-300 people who had come. But with time they grew in number and never left the area,” Monty, a local taxi driver told Newslaundry.

A year passed and SBSS members were still there. Last year, on May 20, 2015, Vijaypal Singh Tomar filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in Allahabad High Court, urging the court to take action against the squatters. The court order in response to the PIL was pronounced on the same day and mentioned the inaction of government officials after Tomar approached them on September 15, 2014, December 19, 2014 and April 6, 2015 respectively. This is possibly what forced the government to act.

According to Tomar, what really got the UP Police moving was the contempt notice issued by the court on January 22, 2016. It reprimanded government authorities for not taking any action despite court’s earlier order to the PIL. Following this, the police paid visits to Ram Vriksh and his army of squatters, trying to persuade them to leave peacefully. “The police had been trying to get them out of the area for long, they even arranged buses for the people to take them home, free of cost, but they didn’t move,” said Mukesh Chaudhary, who owns a shop near Jawahar Bagh.

One June 1, Superintendent of Police (City) Mukul Dwivedi and Station House Officer (Farah) Santosh Yadav were on one of these visits when the SBSS opened fire on them.

According to official figures, 29 died on June 1. Ram Vriksh was one of them. Talk to the locals, and they’ll tell you numbers like 100 and 300 — a grim figure that reflects just how much the incident has rattled the city. According to Investigating Officer Vipin Kumar, around 250 SBSS members – 100 women and 150 men – have been arrested. Media reports place the figure much higher at 368. Fifty-two minors, who were separated from their parents after the police crackdown, have been sent to Rajkiya Bal Grah and Rajkiya Mahila Sansthan. The police also recovered 54 weapons, 184 live and used cartridges, 12 cars and six bikes from Jawahar Bagh.

It began with a godman

The root cause of this terrible incident goes back further than 2014. Ram Vriksh was a follower of Jai Gurudev and stayed in the Jai Gurudev ashram on Mathura Industrial area. However, he was kicked out of the ashram in 1996 for being eccentric and prone to violence. After being ousted, Ram Vriksh created his own sect. His obsession with Subhash Chandra Bose came to the forefront. In fact, he was convinced that Jai Gurudev was the late freedom fighter and the leader of Indian National Army.

Most people you speak with in the city claim, Jai Gurudev Dharma Pracharak Sanstha, in Mathura Industrial area, with several hundred acres of encroached land, enjoys the tutelage of the current Samajwadi Party government, especially that of Shivpal Singh Yadav, the UP cabinet minister of Public Works Department, Irrigation, Co-operative, Flood Control, Land Development & Water Resources, Waste Land Development, Revenue, Disaster & Rehabilitation and Public Service Management. He’s also Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle. “One call from the ashram and the SP will come,” said advocate Pradeep Rajput, who lives in Mathura. “The administration has been told to protect the ashram from any threat.” Rajput also said, “When guruji died, cash worth Rs 1,000 crore went loaded in trucks to Lucknow. This kind of money is important for a political party. You see, money can buy votes.”

In May 2012, Jai Gurudev passed away. Members of the governing Yadav family, including Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, came to the ashram in 2012 for the funeral rites.

A bitter succession struggle followed the godman’s death. Jai Gurudev had left behind a Rs. 12,000-crore empire and three disciples — Pankaj Yadav, Ram Vriksh and Unmukt Tiwari — wanted it. According to Rajput, Ram Vriksh was not a serious contender and the ashram should legally be headed by Rajput’s client Ram Pratap, who was vice president of the Sanstha when Jai Gurudev was alive.

Pratap and Tiwari were ultimately ousted by Pankaj Yadav, who produced an affidavit that Rajput insists is dubious and assumed leadership of the Sanstha. (The legal battle for succession continues with Pratap having challenged Pankaj.) As for Ram Vriksh, Rajput is of the belief that the hostility between Pankaj and Ram Vriksh was a façade. “Local media was paid to portray that to benefit Pankaj as he could distance himself from Ram Vriksh publicly,” he claimed.

In reality, Rajput contends, Pankaj and Ram Vriksh were working hand in hand, helping one another discreetly, and with the blessings of the state government.

From Madhubani to Jawahar Bagh

Madhubani village is located behind Jai Gurudev temple, a 20-minute ride away from Jawahar Bagh. Residents say the Sanstha has been aggressively encroaching upon the villagers’ land since the time of late Jai Gurudev, claiming it’s temple property. Frequent armed scuffles are common here.

Those who live here say that no amount of complaints made to police help. “Pankaj Yadav’s father, Charan Singh, is a very important person in the SP government. He is especially close to Akhilesh Yadav,” said a local, on condition of anonymity. Another local who says he lost his hotel to the temple, told Newslaundry, “The police belongs to them. The administration belongs to them. Is it any surprise that even after High Court ordered the Sansthan to stop constructing Jai Gurudev’s samadhi on our land, they still continue with it?”

One thing is clear from the recent riot in Mathura: the government is in no mood to oppose either SBSS or the Sanstha.

“Ram Vriksh had complete government support. Whenever officials used to go to Jawahar Bagh, he’d make them talk to someone on the phone,” a source said.  “Politicians’ success depends on making as many friends as possible,” said another local. “Both Pankaj and Ram Vriksh had government support, they both are beneficial to the sarkar.”

Rajput claims the number of Sanstha followers have shrunk from lakhs during the time of Jai Gurudev to just a few thousand under Pankaj. “Although Pankaj has become the head, he is not accepted by the followers. The shrinking following shows this,” said Rajput. He believes that the insecurity that rose from this is what allowed Ram Vriksh to ascend. “Ram Vriksh Yadav’s followers in Jawahar Bagh were a reserve army for Pankaj Yadav, who is threatened by Unmukt Tiwari trying to overthrow him,” explained Rajput.

This is apparently why Ram Vriksh Yadav was allowed to build his stronghold in Jawahar Bagh. In case of an attack from Unmukt Tiwari, he’d retaliate on behalf of Pankaj, and the government could wash its hands off the whole affair by saying the clash was unexpected and between the followers of the two groups.

Ram Vriksh’s blatant show of strength, which included harassing and threatening those who tried to enter the area, does suggest a connection with the higher-ups in the government machinery. Encroachment into land owned by the state government, right next to a police station, tehsil and cantonment area, and stocking up a large arsenal hardly seems possible unless you’re confident the authorities are on your side.

Rajput thinks Ram Vriksh was given access to Jawahar Bagh as a result of Yadav camaraderie and the promise of a vote bank as UP gears up for state assembly elections next year.

As things stand now, peace has been restored in Mathura. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is yet to pay a visit to the city, but the state government has increased the compensation for the martyred police officers from Rs. 20 lakh to Rs. 50 lakh. Trying to make the most of the unfortunate incident, the opposition political parties have started targeting the Samajwadi Party government.

For the rest of the country, Mathura’s tryst with Ram Vriksh Yadav has lifted the curtain on the ugly side of spirituality and its uglier relation with politics in Uttar Pradesh. For Mathura, though, this is barely news. For those who live in and around Jawahar Bagh in particular, their reality has proved to be wilder than most rumours.