Recently in an interview, Uma Bharti said, Yogi Adityanath becoming the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh is the best news of the 21st Century. Not only Uma Bharti more than 80 percent people of UP are happy with this Yogi CM Mr. Adityanath. Even Muslims of Gorakhpur are also happy with their bold leader. But what is the reason behind the support? His motto of life, culture, respect for people and religion will surprise everyone.
He has born as Ajay Singh Bisht at Panchoor Village in Garhwal of undivided Uttar Pradesh. He completed his graduation in Mathematics from Uttarakhand, at 22 in 1994. Some 23 years ago Yogi Adityanath had a dramatic entry in public line in Gorakhpur. It was an early summer in Gorakhpur when a student’s group had a clash with a local cloth businessman, who took out his revolver at the college youths. Next day, a young priest was leading a huge rally of protesters on the streets, picketing the residence of the Superintendent of Police. This priest-turned-leader was Ajay Singh and later named as Yogi Adityanath, who shot to fame in Purvanchal politics as angry young man. He was initiated by his guru and head priest of Goraksh Nath temple, Mahant Avaidyanath, in Gorakhpur.
Yogi Adityanath came at that time when Purvanchal was trying to slip out of the grip of Harishankar Tiwari and Virendra Pratap Shahi. In 1921, Gorakhpur’s Mahant Digvijaynath had played a key role in Chouri Choura incident, which forced Mahatma Gandhi to call off his non-cooperation movement. After that Mahant Digvijaynath got full public support for the head priest of Gorakhpur Math. Mahant Ayaidyanath was his successor, and Yogi Adityanath is the successor of Mahant Ayaidyanath. In his college life, Yogi Adityanath appealed to the imagination of upper caste students.
In 1998 Yogi Adityanath contested Loksabha Elections with the blessings of Mahant Avaidyanath and riding on his influence in Gorakhpur of UP and got elected for the first time with the margin of over 26 thousand votes. Since 1998 Adityanath has not lost any election. Continuously he is the winner of five-time Lok Sabha Election. And now he has become the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh after 2017 UP elections.
The year 2002 was the turning point for Adityanath’s political career as he emerged as a strong Hindutva leader. He was made an accused in the 2002 Mohan Mundera incident at Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh. Almost 50 Muslim homes were torched after a Hindu girl was allegedly raped. Opposite parties pointed fingers at Yogi Adityanath, but, Yogi was not made an accused. In 2005, a reconversion of Christian to Hinduism program was launched, which was named as ‘purification drive’ to re-convert Christians. He claimed that he reconverted more than 5thousand people at Etah in Uttar Pradesh.
In 2007, when a Hindu boy was killed during the Muslim’s Moharram procession in Gorakhpur, Adityanath launched a ‘non-violent agitation’. He delivered a speech seeking justice despite prohibitory orders. He was arrested after the speech but his popularity touched a new height at that time. Later, Adityanath broke down in a speech relating to his arrest in the Lok Sabha. At that time Mulayam Singh Yadav government had suspended all the senior police officials in Gorakhpur after the incident. Just after the incident, Yogi Adityanath formed the Yuva Vahini.
Another movement of Yogi Adityanath is unique in India’s political and social history, which is cow protection movement. According to him, he formed Hindu Yuva Vahini, which is reformist outfit and works for the protection of cows and betterment of villages. Yogi calls himself a ‘Servant of Cows’ (gou-sevak) and works at the cowshed at Goraksh Nath Math. Yogi Promised to stop all the illegal activities in Uttar Pradesh and to ensure that no cow is killed in abattoirs across the state, during the Assembly election.
His Hindu Yuva Vahini has been in controversial stage over the past few years. They are facing several accuses regarding the creation of communal trouble in Purvanchal. Yogi himself faces several criminal cases including murder, communal riots, attack on religious places and hurting religious sentiments. But, the activities of Hindu Yuva Vahini increased in Gorakhpur and Adityanath’s popularity also increased, which is the main reason for his winning margins election after election. He won Gorakhpur’s Lok Sabha seat by more than 3 lakh votes in 2014 general elections.
His daily routine is also like a religious leader. No one can guess that he is a political leader. In no way, the condition of the room in which he lives indicates that he has been 5 times winner in Member of Parliament (MP). Daily Yogi wakes up at 3: 30 am, and till 5:00 pm he remains busy with special prayers. He spends the next hour till 8:30 am, followed by a self-study session. After that, he spends an hour in dealing with temple management issues. And before taking his breakfast at 9:30 am, he goes to ‘goushala’ (cowshed) for feeding the cows.
In 2014 parliamentary elections Adityanath’s image and influence added to Narendra Modi wave in BJP sweeping Uttar Pradesh. Many had expected that Yogi Adityananth will be regarded with a cabinet post at the center due to his contribution in Uttar Pradesh and dedication towards Bharatiya Janata Party.
Adityanath always stayed in the front pages for his controversial comments in his political career. In 2015, when intolerance debated was blazing on social media, Adityanath compared Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan with Hafiz Saeed of 26/11 terror attack. Yogi Adityanath further challenged those peoples who voiced their opposition against Yoga, Surya Namaskar, the ancient morning exercise. He asked those people to ‘leave India’. Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) used him as the star campaigner during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election campaign in the second half of the 7-phased polls. In Varanasi, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi camping for the final 2 phases, Yogi’s supporters made it sure that Purvanchal delivers maximum seats to Bharatiya Janata Party to take it past three hundred marks on its own.
The main reason behind choosing him as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh by party chief Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is his continuous efforts, popularity, and political boldness. All reports said that Adityanath was a “surprise” choice of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the chief minister post in Uttar Pradesh. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi always had considered the Gorakhpur’s Yogi+ as a strong competitor, and Rashtriya Sayamsevak Sangha (RSS) had very little to do with Modi’s decision. The reasons were the Yogi’s political heft and his appeal across castes and his demonstration of discipline in this round of polling.
After all, the story behind the selection of Adityanath by Modi government is not the actual target of BJP to make a strong leader for Uttar Pradesh. The BJP’s actual target is to make another landslide victory for 2019 general elections of India. And Yogi Adityanath is one of the best weapons for that. Modi government has always thought about long-term planning, and this is another example.
