(Riya Saha, Intern Journalist)Yogi Adityanath is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He is the Mahant (Chief Priest) of the Gorakhnath Math, a Hindu temple in Gorakhpur. He is the founder of the organization, the Hindu Yuva Vahini; a youth organization, which has been involved in the controversy for its involvement in communal violence. Yogi Adityanath has a reputation for being a Hindutva Right-Wing Populist.
Yogi Adityanath was born on Monday, 5 June 1972 (age 47 years; as in 2019) as Ajay Mohan Bisht in Panchur, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand. His father, Anand Singh Bisht was a forest ranger. His mother, Savitri Devi is a homemaker. He is the second born in his family, among four brothers and three sisters.
Ajay received his primary education from the local schools of Pauri and Rishikesh. He went on to study from Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Uttarakhand, and obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics in 1992.
He left his home in the mid-1990s to join the Ayodhya Ram Mandir Movement. There, he met Mahant Avaidyanath, the former Mahant (Chief Priest) of Goraknath Math, to whom he looked up to and was inspired by him. Adityanath renounced his family in 1993, and he traveled to Gorakhpur to become the Mahant’s disciple, and eventually, his favorite disciple.
In 1996, he cut his political milk tooth when he was handed the responsibility of managing the election campaign of Mahant Avaidyanath. In 1998, when Mahant Avaidyanath retired, he named Adityanath as the nominee from the Gorakhpur seat. Yogi contested and won the Lok Sabha elections from Gorakhpur. He was the youngest Member of Parliament in the 12th Lok Sabha at the age of 26. After his first electoral win, he started his Youth Wing, the Hindu Yuva Vahini, which was quite controversial and established an image of Yogi Adityanath as a Right-Wing Populist Hindutva Firebrand.
Thereafter, Yogi won the Lok Sabha elections consecutively for 5 times, from 1998 to 2014. As an MP, he was included as a member in several committees over the years, such as Committee on Food, Civil Supplies, Department of Sugar and Edible Oils, Consultive Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Committee on Transport, Tourism, and Culture, Committee on External Affairs and many more.
In 2017, the BJP won the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections with a landslide victory. Yogi Adityanath was announced as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on 18 March 2017. He was sworn in the next day on 19 March 2017
About Post Author
