New Delhi: The brutal daylight murder of a power department contractor, belonging to the dominant Brahmin community, in Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath’s political stronghold of Gorakhpur has placed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the back foot. Police have arrested eight individuals in connection with the crime so far. They also plan to invoke the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against the accused.The horrific killing of Shiv Kumar Tripathi, captured on camera and widely circulated across social media platforms, has provided fresh ammunition to the opposition in the state, especially the Samajwadi Party. The SP is using the incident to accuse the Adityanath government of failing to address the alleged targeted killings of Brahmins.Brahmins represent a critical vote bank for the BJP and punch way above their weight in state politics. With the 2027 Assembly election in UP fast approaching, the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP has launched an aggressive campaign to court the community. By portraying the ruling BJP – led by Adityanath, who was born into a Thakur community – as anti-Brahmin, the SP is seeking to exploit deep-seated fault lines between the two rival groups. Thakurs and Brahmins have historically maintained a fierce political rivalry across eastern Uttar Pradesh, particularly in the Gorakhpur belt, which serves as the epicentre of Adityanath’s Hindutva politics.Against this political backdrop, both the Samajwadi Party and the Congress have seized upon the Gorakhpur incident. They are using it not only to burst Adityanath’s tall claims of solid law and order in the state but also to strengthen the narrative of systematic Brahmin victimhood under the current government.The contractor in Gorakhpur was killed on August 8. Shiv Kumar Tripathi, in his 50s, was attending a ritual event in a village when he was ambushed by some assailants, including, allegedly, a minor.Local reports indicate that Tripathi initially collapsed on the spot following the primary assault. When panicked eye witnesses and hosts of the event attempted to rush him to a nearby hospital in an auto-rickshaw, the attackers intercepted the vehicle, forcibly dragged Tripathi out again, and inflicted multiple fatal sword wounds, killing him on the spot. These scenes of a sword attack on him as he tried to helplessly resist the assailant were captured on camera.Superintendent of Police (Gorakhpur South) Dinesh Kumar Puri said that Tripathi’s body was recovered along the roadside in Ahirauli Khurd village, situated within the jurisdiction of the Sikriganj police station. According to the officer, Tripathi was attending a brahmbhoj (a traditional ritual feast) in the village when the dispute erupted.“An altercation broke out between him and certain individuals. During the confrontation, he was assaulted by some of them, which resulted in his death,” Puri stated.Act of retaliationA First Information Report (FIR) was registered based on a formal complaint lodged by the victim’s brother, Ram Kumar Tripathi. Subsequent police investigations revealed that the murder was an act of retaliation stemming from the 2024 killing of a local youth named Adesh Chaudhary.Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Gorakhpur, Dr. Kaustubh, explained that members of Tripathi’s family had previously been implicated in Chaudhary’s murder.“The accused committed this act out of a grudge stemming from that matter,” said the SSP.The retaliatory attack involves a family from the Kurmi community, which falls under Other Backward Classes.Case documents reviewed by The Wire indicate that on August 5, 2024, at approximately 7 pm, a group consisting of Brijesh Tiwari, Aditya Raj Tripathi, Golu Tiwari, Durgesh Singh, and two to three unidentified accomplices allegedly launched a violent assault on Adesh Chaudhary and his uncle outside their home. The assailants allegedly shot Chaudhary multiple times, while his uncle, Vinod Chaudhary, suffered a fractured arm. The critically injured youth was rushed to a local primary health centre and subsequently transferred to the District Hospital in Gorakhpur, where doctors declared him dead.The arrested individuals. Photo: UP PoliceVinod Chaudhary stated in his FIR that the initial confrontation stemmed from a minor dispute among local children. He alleged that Brijesh Tiwari fired the fatal shots at Adesh.SSP Kaustubh said that eight persons accused in the murder of Tripathi, including six of the seven individuals explicitly named in the FIR by the family of the victim, have been arrested. NSA would also be slapped against the accused, said the officer.‘Morale of criminals so high’SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who recently reframed the ‘P’ in his ‘PDA’ political coalition formula to represent “peedit pandit” (aggrieved Brahmins), asserted that the Gorakhpur killing reflected the true face of crime in UP.“When the morale of criminals is so high in the key city of Gorakhpur, one can well understand under whose patronage such dreaded criminals are thriving,” Yadav posted on X.Mata Prasad Pandey, leader of the opposition in UP Assembly, and the most senior Brahmin face within the Samajwadi Party, offered an even sharper indictment of the administration.“The continuous attacks and atrocities against Brahmins, carried out as part of a calculated strategy, expose this government’s biased functioning and its hollow claims of ‘good governance’,” Pandey stated in a detailed Facebook post.Pandey further alleged that the administration’s inaction demonstrates deliberate indifference towards Brahmins.“The silence of the government and administration regarding this heinous crime proves that a specific section of society – particularly the Brahmin community – is being deliberately targeted,” he added. “This injustice will not be tolerated until the government stops shielding criminals and ensures the safety of the Brahmin community and every ordinary citizen.”A delegation of local SP leaders also visited the Tripathi family to express solidarity.Joining the offensive, Uttar Pradesh Congress state president Ajay Rai accused the ruling dispensation of maintaining a passive stance while violence against Brahmins continues unchecked.“The killings of members of the Brahmin community are continuously taking place in the state, yet the government, which claims a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy, remains a mute spectator. Law and order has completely collapsed,” Rai stated.Rai, who contested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi during the last three Lok Sabha elections, demanded the Chief Minister’s resignation, asserting that if Adityanath cannot guarantee public safety within his own home district, he has lost the moral authority to govern the state.