CutThe Clutter: As Hari Shankar Tiwari, UP’s 1st gangster-neta dies, crime-politics nexus, Brahmin-Thakur mafia wars

Six-term former UP MLA and minister Hari Shankar Tiwari, a Brahmin leader courted by Congress, BJP, SP and BSP, passed away Tuesday. In Ep 1233 of Cut The Clutter, Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta explains why Tiwari is seen by many as the ‘original’ mafioso of UP ganglands, and dives deep into the origins of the heartland’s complicated — and bloody — caste wars.