Yogi Adityanath
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In a move that surprised many, Yogi Adityanath, a mascot of Hindutva, was named the next CM of Uttar Pradesh. The 44-year-old five-term MP from Gorakhpur was elected the BJP legislature party leader at a meeting of the newly-elected MLAs. He was born as Ajay Singh, on June 5 1972 in a Rajput family.
Early Life
He was born Ajay Singh, on June 5 1972 in a Rajput family. He completed his Bachelor's Degree in Science from HNB Garhwal University in Uttarakhand.
Political rise
As he gained prominence in politics, he took up the mantle of Yogi Adityanath and became identifiable by his shaven head and trademark saffron-coloured robes.
Adityanath was the youngest member of the 12th Lok Sabha at 26. He has been elected as an MP from Gorakhpur to the Lok Sabha in the 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 elections.
Conflict with BJP
Adityanath has had a strained relation with the BJP for more than a decade. In December 2006, Adityanath had organised a three-day Virat Hindu Mahasammelan at Gorakhpur, during the same period when the BJP was holding its National Executive Meet in Lucknow.
The 2007 elections saw a conflict between Adityanath and the BJP leadership - he wanted more than hundred seats in this region to go to candidates selected by him, but the party leadership would not agree.
In March 2010, Adityanath was one of several BJP MPs who started the defiance to the party whip on the Women's Reservation Bill.
Hindutva background
Adityanath is a strong advocate of construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, and has said that the hurdles in the path of building a grand Ram temple will be gradually removed and construction will begin soon.
He was made the Mahant (head priest) of the Gorakhnath Math, a Hindu temple in Gorakhpur, following the death of his spiritual father Mahant Avaidyanath in September 2014.
He is also the founder of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a social, cultural and nationalist group of youth who seek to provide a rightist Hindu platform.
Controversies and Crimes
In 2015, Yogi Adityanath said that those who oppose yoga can leave India. He was also embroiled in the Love Jihad and Kairana exodus controversies.
He also once compared Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan to terrorist leader Hafiz Saeed and asked him to go to Pakistan.
Adityanath has several criminal cases against him. Some of the charges are rioting, attempt to murder, armed with deadly weapon, trespassing on burial places and criminal intimidation.
Education
HIGHLIGHTS
In 1998, when he was just 26, Yogi Adityanath became the youngest member of the 12th Lok Sabha
He won successive terms in 1999, 2004, 2009 and in 2014
He is not just the popular choice among BJP’s 325 legislators, but also commands a giant following in eastern UP
GORAKHPUR: The chief minister-designate of Uttar Pradesh was born in the hills to Rajput parents. According to the records of the Gorakhnath Math, which he now heads, Yogi Adityanath was born Ajay Singh Bisht on June 5, 1972.
Little is known of his pre-Yogi days, except that he got a BSc degree in maths and renounced his family at the age of 21 to become a disciple of Mahant Avaidyanath, then the head priest of Gorakhnath Math. In the years that followed, Adityanath+ trained as a sanyasi, protecting cows, learning Hindu texts, and emerging, in less than five years since he was co-opted, as his Guru's most beloved disciple.
As the successor of Guru Gorakhnath temple, he also ran schools and colleges and managed a hospital.
Yogi's tryst with politics began in 1996, when he was named in-charge of managing the election campaign for Mahant Avaidyanath. In 1998, when Avaidyanath retired from active politics, he declared Yogi as his heir apparent, and also the nominee for the next Lok Sabha polls. In 1998, when he was just 26, Yogi Adityanath became the youngest member of the 12th Lok Sabha, going on to win successive terms in 1999, 2004, 2009 and in 2014. The 44-year-old Yogi Adityanath is not just the popular choice among BJP's 325 legislators, but also commands a giant following in eastern UP. Even though he remained the torchbearer of the Hindu cause, Yogi also played the 'Vrihad Hindu' card attempting, consciously, to widen his popularity base not just among the core Hindu voters, but also reaching out to the nearly disenfranchised Dalit community.
His Hindu hardliner image was strengthened after the 'Pachrukhiya' incident in Maharjganj district. On February 10, 1999, when Samajwadi Party member Talat Aziz was delivering a speech as a part of SP's 'jail bharo andolan', some miscreants opened fire on her. Rumours spread that the fire was opened following Yogi's directions. It was then that people began chanting slogans of 'Gorakhpur mein rehna hai to Yogi Yogi kehna hai'.
In 2002, he set up Hindu Yuva Vahini, a socio-cultural outfit, but whose volunteers were known to use strong-arm tactics in riots, cow-protection drives and in their attempts to curtail 'love jihad'. In 2005, Yogi led a purification drive — Ghar Wapasi — under which many 'returned' to Hinduism. Yogi landed in jail for his acts. He faced charges ranging from attempt to murder to defiling places of worship, rioting with deadly weapons and criminal intimidation. In recent years, Yogi has made little attempt to couch his ambitions. Early signs that he was ready to step out of the Mutt to take on a larger role than that of an MP came when Sunil Singh, a Yogi aide and state president of HYV, split from BJP and entered into an alliance with Shiv Sena. Singh announced that HYV candidates will contest against BJP in the 2017 assembly polls. Their grouse: revenge for the disrespect BJP showed to Yogi by denying him space in the party's national executive for the 2017 elections. While many believe this was a move orchestrated by Yogi to hammer in his growing clout — without which BJP could not progress in UP —the Mahant of Goarkhnath Mutt sacked Singh from HYV on the ground that it was a cultural organisation that could not contest elections.
Mathematics and politics
The Gorakhnath Math in Gorakhpur traces its origin to 11th century monk, Guru Gorakshnath, a yogi of the Nath Sampradaya - a Shaivite tradition within Hinduism. The Naths, in turn, attribute their origin to Dattatreya, the little known single embodiment of the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh.
Interestingly, Dattatreya and his followers were believed to inhabit the Girnar forest in modern-day Gujarat. Among Dattatreya's disciples was Matsayendranath, the preceptor of Gorakshnath - the latter's revolutionary contribution to his times was simplifying the Upanishadic teachings in argot. He gave the Shabar Mantra - a pledge to Lord Shiva -- to the common people, making no distinction of their caste or communal identity. In mythological terms, Gorakshnath's following was akin to Lord Shiva's baraat that included every living being.
In time, the Gorakshnath (lit. protector of cow) Shakti peeth emerged as an egalitarian construct where, until this day, the festival of Makar Sankranti is observed with distribution of khichdi to people of all castes, religions and faiths. It's a centuries old great tradition. Among the followers of Gorakshnath were the Gorkhas of Nepal, known for their military valour. Indeed, Gorakshnath was himself a martial ascetic, although he or his group wasn't part of Adi Shankaracharya's Akharas - or armed monasteries for religious renunciates. In more recent times, Gorakshnath's followers have become part of the Juna (ancient) Akhara.
As with most Sanatan saints, there are both historical and hagiographical accounts of Gorakshnath's existence. While the historical accounts locate him as a reformer who gave the masses access to Vedic and Upanishadic teachings, the celebratory accounts hold Gorakshnath as a 'siddha'. The Upanishads describe siddhas as beings that have progressed from a jivanmukta state to paramukta state - supremely free. With full power over death, when siddhas who have become paramukta, attain physical form for a special purpose, they are known as avatar. In the popular belief, Guru Gorakshnath was an avatar of Lord Shiva.
Today's Gorakhnath Math in Gorakhpur is a religious and political institution that runs two temples, one in Nepal in Gorkha district, and the other south of Gorakhpur that's said to contain the Samadhi - a yogi's final resting place -- of Guru Gorakshnath.
These two temples are thronged by devotees in tens of thousands on Makar Sankranti; not so long back, the Nepalese royals were known to occasionally visit one of these temples during the end-winter festival.
Because the monastic order, according to the principles of Gorakshnath, does not follow caste rules as other Hindu religious denominations do, non-Brahmins have served as its temple priests. The current Mahant or chief priest Yogi Aditya Nath is a Thakur. The Gorakhnath Math has been a busy hub of political activities for decades. Mahant Digvijay Nath was a member of the Congress in 1921. He was arrested for "actively participating" in the Chauri Chaura incident in which protesters clashed with the police. The subsequent violence led to the deaths of three civilians and 23 policemen, a turn of events that forced Mahatma Gandhi to call off his non-cooperation movement.
After independence, Digvijay Nath was arrested for his incendiary speeches against Gandhi before his assassination, and was jailed for nine months. He later led the Ram Janmabhoomi movement of 1949, organising a nine-day recitation of Ramcharit Manas, at the end of which idols of Ram and Sita were placed inside the Babri Masjid. The Mahants of Gorakhnath Math are known as kanphata yogis - they conduct 'cheera' or cut open the earlobes as a reminder to listen - not to the outside world, but only to their inner voice, or the voice of conscience. The still small voice that stops one from doing anything that leads to the accrual of bad karma.
Political career
Mar 19, 2017, The Times of India
A look at the life of Yogi Adityanath before he became the chief minister designate for Uttar Pradesh on March 18, 2017
June 5, 1972
Born in Garhwal (now Uttarakhand). Original name Ajay Singh Bisht
1992
Completed BSc (maths) from Garhwal University
1994
Received deeksha as a disciple of Gorakhnath temple head Mahant Avaidyanath, who declared him his successor
22-year-old Ajay Singh Bisht came to be known as Yogi Adityanath after he received 'deeksha' in 1994. Among those present on the occasion was Mahant Avaidyanath (2nd from right)
1998
Won Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat for first time when he was just 26. Has won same on trot for 5 times
1999
Samajwadi Party member Talat Aziz was delivering a speech as a part of SP's 'jail bharo andolan', some miscreants opened fire on her. Reportedly, the fire was opened following Adityanath's directions.
2002
On Ramnavmi, founded the Hindu Yuva Vahini — a social, cultural and nationalist group of young people
2005
Over 5,000 people were converted to Hinduism in Etah. Yogi had reportedly said: "I will not stop till I turn UP and India into a Hindu rashtra" 2002 & 2007 UP elections
Ties between him and BJP have been strained off and on. In both 2002 and 2007 UP elections, BJP and Adityanath were at conflict over number of seats to be given to candidates selected by him in Gorakhpur.
2007
He announced a torchlight procession and a 'Shraddhanjali Sabha' for a Hindu boy killed in riots that broke out in Gorakhpur. DM had forbidden him from organising the meet but he and his followers set off. That was the first time he was jailed
2010
Adityanath was one of several BJP MPs who did not adhere to the party whip on the Women's reservation Bill
2014
After BJP's unprecedented victory in Lok Sabha polls, he was made a star campaigner for the assembly byelections. He raised issues like love jihad and religious conversions but it didn't cut much ice and BJP lost most of the seats. Since then, he has kept a low profile, politically
He became the Mahant (head priest) of the Gorakhnath math, a Hindu temple in Gorakhpur, after the death of his spiritual "father", Mahant Avaidyanath in September 2014
2017
For the UP Assembly elections 2017, Adityanath was again named a star campaigner and held more than 150 rallies across the state, raised the law and order situation extensively, and made 'love jihad' a major issue
March 2017/ Why Yogi Adityanath was made UP CM
HIGHLIGHTS
Modi and Shah always considered Yogi Adityanath a strong candidate.
Surveys showed popularity, campaigning showed discipline and appeal across states.
Contrary to media reports that Yogi Adityanath was a "surprise" choice as BJP's chief minister for Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah had always considered the Gorakhpur sanyasi+ as a strong contender.
The reasons were the Yogi's popularity, political heft, his appeal across castes and his demonstration of discipline in this round of polling. ET spoke to several top BJP leaders for this story. They all spoke on the condition they not be identified.
Several months before UP's election campaign started, Shah, a senior leader said, had asked home minister Rajnath Singh whether the latter wants to be BJP's CM candidate. Shah told Singh there are only two names, the minister's and the Yogi's, as possible CM candidates. The leader quoted above said Singh expressed his reluctance on becoming BJP's CM candidate and also argued the party should fight polls without formally identifying a face.
But that conversation, this leader told ET, was very early proof of how seriously the Yogi was being considered as a CM choice. And BJP's top leadership had data to back their preference.
Another leader said every survey commissioned by BJP in UP showed that, among voters at large, Yogi Adityanath was just a point behind Rajnath Singh in terms of acceptance as CM candidate.
And, among BJP supporters, the two were tied. These surveys, and Singh's unwillingness to come back to UP administration, had made Yogi a strong CM post contender much before UP's voters delivered a massive verdict for BJP.
That Yogi Adityanath's stature as a star campaigner helped his case has been mentioned. But that he showed "great discipline" in combating dissent in his stronghold of eastern UP is less well known, another senior BJP leader told ET, adding that the way the Yogi mastered that "political challenge" made him an even stronger candidate for the top job. This party senior said most of BJP's ticket distribution hassles were concentrated in the last phases of UP's 7-phase polls when eastern UP voted. "Several rebel candidates were contesting," this leader said, "but the Yogi worked very hard and in Gorakhpur, especially, went for door-to-door campaigning. He ensured all rebels lost. No other leader worked this hard or faced more challenges in the election than Yogi".
Another leader said Modi's and Shah's faith in Adityanath was demonstrated when they did not buy into reports that the eastern UP leader was behind some dissenting sections. "No one sought an answer from him. Some of our own leaders thought Adityanath can be a stumbling block for the party in Purvanchal. But Modiji and Shah knew that wasn't the case," this leader said.
Plain-speaking, Plain-living A BJP leader from UP recalled how Shah, during the 2014 campaign, had praised the Yogi. "The party chief stayed in the Gorakhpur mutt for a couple of days during the 2014 campaign and was very impressed with Adityanath's disciplined lifestyle, his attention to those in his care, his plain-speaking and his knowledge of history," the leader said.
"But most importantly, The Yogi's contribution to the campaign was most significant. If there was any doubt about his popularity with the cadre, the roadshow with Amit Shah settled it," the person said.
Yogi, many BJP seniors point out, was the only other BJP campaigner apart from Rajnath Singh who was asked to give speeches everywhere in the state during Modi's whirlwind 2014 campaign in UP. "Modi and the Yogi flew to Gorakhpur during the campaign," one leader said, adding the PM and Adityanath have "excellent relations". Such was Shah's faith in the Yogi, another BJP top functionary told ET, that when the party did poorly in state assembly byelections after the massive 2014 Lok Sabha show, the party president didn't blame the eastern UP leader, who was in charge of bypolls. Shah, the leader quoted above said, had argued that bypolls favour the party in power in the state and therefore Adityanath could not be blamed.
And the final factor in the Yogi's elevation was his appeal across castes. As one BJP senior explained it: "Adityanath (a Thakur) is a sanyasi and therefore above caste. And the Gorakhnath peeth has followers largely from backward castes, especially Yadavs...his appeal among backward caste groups is immense." Another BJP leader said the vacuum in Brahmin leadership in the Purvanchal region also helped Adityanath succeed, because Brahmins, numerically stronger than Thakurs in UP, extend support to Adityanath.
"The upper caste is with him and his followers are largely backward castes. In that sense Adityanath, unlike Rajnath Singh or Manoj Sinha or even Keshav Prasad Maurya, has appeal cutting across caste," this leader said. "And many Muslims attend his 9 am to 11 am panchayats in Gorakhpur," he added.
Gauraksha and Love jihad
Yogi had set up Yuva Vahini that dealt with gauraksha & love jihad, Mar 19 2017: The Times of India
The chief minister-designate of Uttar Pradesh was born in the hills to Rajput parents. According to records of the Gorakhnath Math, which he now heads, Yogi Adityanath was born Ajay Singh Bisht on June 5, 1972. Little is known of his pre-Yogi days, except that he got a BSc degree in mathematics and renounced his family at the age of 21to become a disciple of Mahant Avaidyanath, then the head priest of Gorakhnath Math.
In the years that followed, Adityanath trained as a sanyasi, protecting cows, learning Hindu texts, and emerging, in less than five years since he was co-opted, as his Guru's most beloved disciple. As the successor of Guru Gorakhnath Math, he also ran schools and colleges and managed a hospital. Yogi's tryst with politics began in 1996, when he was named in-charge of managing the election campaign for Mahant Avaidyanath. In 1998, when Avaidyanath retired from active politics, he declared Yogi as his heir apparent, and also the nominee for the next Lok Sabha polls. In 1998, when he was just 26, Yogi Adityanath became the youngest member of the 12th Lok Sabha, going on to win successive terms in 1999, 2004, 2009 and in 2014.
The 44-year-old Yogi Adi tyanath is not just the popular choice among BJP's 325 legislators, but also commands a giant following in eastern UP. Even though he remained the torchbearer of the Hindu cause, Yogi also played the `Vrihad Hindu' card attempting, consciously, to widen his popularity base not just among the core Hindu voters, but also reaching out to the nearly disenfranchised Dalit community .
His Hindu hardliner image was strengthened after the `Pachrukhiya' incident in Maharjganj district. On February 10, 1999, when Samajwadi Party member Talat Aziz was delivering a speech as a part of SP's `jail bharo andolan', some miscreants opened fire on her. Rumours spread that the fire was opened following Yogi's directions. It was then that people began chanting slogans of `Gorakhpur mein rehna hai to Yogi Yogi kehna hai'.
In 2002, he set up Hindu Yuva Vahini, a socio-cultural outfit, but whose volunteers were known to use strong-arm tactics in riots, cow-protec tion drives and in their attempts to curtail `love jihad'.
In 2005, Yogi led a purification drive purification drive -Ghar Wapasi -under which many `returned' to Hinduism. Yogi landed in jail for his acts.He faced charges ranging from attempt to murder to defiling places of worship, rioting with deadly weapons and criminal intimidation.
In recent years, Yogi has made little attempt to couch his ambitions. Early signs that he was ready to step out of the Mutt to take on a larger role than that of an MP came when Sunil Singh, a Yogi aide and state president of HYV , split from BJP and entered into an alliance with Shiv Sena. Singh announced that HYV candidates will contest against BJP in the 2017 assembly polls.Their grouse: revenge for the disrespect BJP showed to Yogi by denying him space in the party's national executive for the 2017 elections.
While many believe this was a move orchestrated by Yogi to hammer in his growing clout -without which BJP could not progress in UP -the Mahant of Goarkhnath Mutt sacked Singh from HYV on the ground that it was a cultural organisation that could not contest elections.
On terrorism
2008: convoy attacked in Azamagarh
When Yogi survived a murderous attack, November 22, 2017: The Times of India
A report that Yogi Aditya Nath was among top Indian leaders on the hit list of terror group Islamic State (IS) underlines the threat perception to the UP chief minister. He has long been on the hit list of militant organisations, but a murderous attack on him about a decade ago was carried out not by any terror outfit, but home-grown subversive elements in Azamagarh.
The attack on his convoy in Azamagarh on September 7, 2008, and the inside story of how he survived, has been documented in ‘Yogi Aditynath: The Rise of A Saffron Socialist’ published by Times Group Books. Written by TOI journalist Pravin Kumar, the book will be formally unveiled at Times Litfest Delhi 2017.
The book says that Yogi was on his way to address an anti-terrorism rally in Azamgarh to counter rival parties whose leaders had started making a beeline to the house of Abu Basheer, arrested for his alleged role in Ahmedabad blasts in July 2008.
According to the book, “Several saffron organisations, led by the Hindu Yuva Vahini, announced that they would hold a rally against terrorism in Azamgarh. Yogi was to be the chief speaker in the rally slated to be held at the DAV ground on 7 September 2008. On the morning of the rally, a fleet of 40 vehicles started from Gorakhnath Temple. Since it was feared that they might face hostilities in Azamgarh, Team Yogi was well prepared. In the convoy, Yogi’s red SUV was the seventh in number. However, nothing had prepared them for what was going to crop up on the outskirts of Azamgarh.
By the time the convoy came closer to Azamgarh, it already had a hundred fourwheelers and many more motorcycles. Besides, after intelligence inputs about the threat of an attack, a Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) unit was also following the fleet. But nobody knew what could be the place or form of the attack. At 1.20pm, just as the convoy was passing through the Takia, a little before Azamgarh town, a stone hit the seventh vehicle in the convoy. Soon, stones started coming from all directions. Then came petrol bombs...
It was a synchronised assault, planned well in advance. Its suddenness pulverised Yogi’s supporters. The fleet had been divided into three. Six vehicles had moved ahead and most of them were left far behind. But a few of them in the middle came under attack. Assailants had surrounded the vehicles and started attacking the occupants. They were hunting for their target. But he was nowhere to be found. His disappearance annoyed them and they turned fiercer.
But where was Yogi? After the men in the fleet recovered their senses, everybody was asking the same question. Meanwhile, reinforcements from other police stations had reached the troubled site and vendors on either side of the street came to the rescue and formed a shield around the vehicles under attack. The city’s circle officer, Shailendra Srivastava, ordered a counter offensive. One person was killed. The injured in the convoy were rushed to hospital. But there was still no trace of Yogi.”
As the search for him got frantic, it was found that Yogi had moved much farther ahead and was waiting for the rest of the vehicles. He was, in fact, in the first SUV of the fleet. The change-over had been done at a PWD guesthouse when the convoy had taken a short break. The attackers in Takia, probably, did not have the information about this last-minute change.
Apart from this, the book has several other unreported nuggets from Yogi’s fascinating life, from the scenic Pauri in Uttarakhand to one of the most revered maths of eastern UP and then finally to the CM house in Lucknow.
2006, did not help in Ajmer Sharif blast
Bharti Jain, In '06, Yogi had snubbed Ajmer Sharif blast convict Mar 25, 2017: The Times of India
HIGHLIGHTS
Yogi had shrugged off Sunil Joshi when he met him at Gorakhpur to seek his help to “arrange some SIM cards and weapons."
In Aseemanand's “confessional“ statement, he was told by Sunil Joshi in June 2006 that he had not got any help from either Yogi or Rajeshwar Singh.
UP CM Yogi Aditya Nath had shrugged off Sunil Joshi, a convict in the 2007 Ajmer Sharif blast case, when he met him at Gorakhpur in 2006 to seek his help to "arrange some SIM cards and weapons", according to Swami Aseemanand's "confessional" statement recorded under Section 164 of CrPC but retracted later.
TOI, based on a reconstruction of events from statements recorded before a magistrate by Aseemanand and Bharat Mohan Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai, both accused in the Ajmer blast who are now acquitted by Special NIA court, Jaipur, has found that Sunil Joshi and Bharat Bhai had a meeting with Yogi Adityanath, then MP from Gorakhpur, in April 2006, at Aseemanand's behest. The latter had directed them in March 2006 to go to Agra to meet local Rajeshwar Singh and then get an audience with Yogi in Gorakhpur.
The two first went to Agra, where they met Rajeshwar who then took them to Gorakhpur to meet Yogi Adityanath. However, when they did get a chance to meet Yogi alone, he, as per the statement of Aseemanand recorded before a magistrate as well as an ac count provided by Bharat Bhai in his own statement under Section 164 of CrPC, showed no interest in their conversation and asked them to come back another day . "I am busy . You may meet me again after duly seeking time," Yogi was quoted by Bharat Bhai and Aseemanand as saying.
Joshi and Bharat Bhai thereafter left Gorakhpur and made no attempt to seek a second meeting with Yogi Aditya Nath. In fact, as per Aseemanand's "confessional" statement, he was told by Sunil Joshi in June 2006 that he had not got any help from either Yogi or Rajeshwar Singh.
Interestingly, Aseemanand later retracted the aforesaid confessional statement, claiming that it was made under duress.
A NIA court acquitted Swami Aseemanand, Bharat Bhai as well as others in the Ajmer blasts case but convicted three others --Sunil Joshi (deceased), Devendra Singh and Bhavesh Patel.An NIA officer said that there was no scope for examining Yogi while probing the Ajmer blasts, as the statements of both Aseemanand and Bharat Bhai established that he had paid no heed to their alleged subversion plan, let alone be a party to the same. NIA had taken over probe into the Ajmer Sharif dargah blasts in 2011.
2021: Almost lost the backing of BJP
Shyamlal Yadav, June 14, 2024: The Times of India
The setback in Uttar Pradesh, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has experienced a significant reduction in vote share and a decrease in seat tally in the recently concluded general election, is bound to bring the focus back on Yogi Adityanath. It also puts a question mark for now on the national ambitions of the two-time Uttar Pradesh chief minister who enjoys a strong Hindutva base.
In this excerpt from a new book that delves into the lives and times of the 21 chief ministers of the state — right from Independence to the present day — the focus is on Yogi and how he managed to save his position despite many controversies in 2021.
It was a year when differences between the BJP and Yogi had come to a boil and his removal was being discussed both within the party and outside. The alienation of the Brahmin community (Yogi is a Rajput) and the tussle with deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya were some of the major factors that caused ripples in Locknow and Delhi. He was eventually retained with Prime Minister Narendra Modi having to step in. You all remember that famous picture — Modi taking a stroll in Raj Bhavan with his arm around Yogi’s shoulder — right?
Since Independence, almost every CM has faced allegations of promoting and posting people of their own caste to prime positions in the government, and Yogi Adityanath is no exception. He has also been widely criticised for being extremely casteist.
However, what is different is that he is not defensive. Just before completing his first five-year tenure, on being asked whether he felt hurt on being labelled a casteist, he said, “I am not hurt. It is not a crime to be born in a Rajput family. This is one caste in the country in which even God was born, not once but many times. One should take pride in one’s caste, and I am proud to be a Rajput.”
Yogi Adityanath is the fifth from the Rajput (or Thakur) caste to hold the CM’s office in UP.
However, most of the criticism Yogi Adityanath’s government faced was from the Brahmins, who were among the largest beneficiaries of the government and the ruling party.
Crackdown on alleged criminals like Vijay Mishra of Bhadohi attracted criticism from Brahmins and even from some BJP leaders who agreed with the community’s sentiments.
But the BJP had lost nothing politically. When some BJP MLAs started asking questions about how many Brahmins were killed, the former Union MoS in the Congress government, Jitin Prasada, while launching the Brahmin Chetna Parishad on 6 July 2020, stated that, “Since the Adityanath government came to power, the crimes and killings against Brahmins have increased manifold. They are being killed, and they aren’t being given any justice. At the moment, data tells us that Brahmin killings are disproportionately high.”
This was despite the fact that the then chief secretary RK Tiwari, principal secretary home Awanish Kumar Awasthi, and director general of police Hitesh Chandra Awasthy were all Brahmins.
Jitin Prasada joined BJP on 9 June 2021 and was sworn in as a minister in Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet. He was fielded as a BJP candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Pilibhit, a seat earlier represented by Varun Gandhi.
But some cases of alleged fake encounters were disturbing. A classic example is that of Jhansi’s Pushpendra Yadav, who was allegedly killed in a fake encounter on 9 October 2019.
An FIR was registered only after the Allahabad High Court passed an order on 12 September 2022. But while waiting for justice, his wife Shivangi Yadav died by suicide on 29 March 2023.
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In its first five-year tenure, the Yogi Adityanath government also initiated infrastructure projects like the Ganga Expressway, Bundelkhand Expressway and Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor, and completed others that were conceived during the previous governments. But anger among the youth towards his government was high because recruitment for government jobs was stuck or delayed, and there were frequent paper leaks. There was also the allegation of violation of reservation rules in recruitments.
The news of the unrest had reached Delhi. Many meetings were organised in Lucknow and Delhi in May and June 2021 at different levels. At one point, it seemed certain that Yogi Adityanath was going to be replaced. The central leadership was concerned about the assembly polls, which were only nine months away.
Amid his ongoing tussle with Deputy CM Maurya, Yogi Adityanath made a surprise visit to Maurya’s residence on 22 June 2021 in an attempt to mend fences. Before Yogi Adityanath could be convinced about the change of leadership, the BJP leadership, assessing the situation, realised that if he was removed, the party would suffer.
The dust settled when PM Modi came to Lucknow to address the 56th Conference of Director Generals of Police and Inspector Generals of Police of states/union territories, attended by heads of central armed police forces and central police organisations on 20-21 November 2021. After meeting the PM at Raj Bhavan, where Modi was staying, Yogi Adityanath tweeted a picture in which PM Modi seen strolling with his hand on Yogi Adityanath’s shoulder.
Attached with the picture was a poem:
Ham nikal pade hain pran karke
Apna tan-man arpan karke
Jid hai ek surya ugana hai
Ambar se uncha jaana hai
Ek bharat naya banana hai
[We have started a journey with a commitment, sacrificing our body and mind, to bring a sunrise; have to go high above the sky and create a new India.]
This put to rest all the rumours and made it clear that the party could not afford to replace Yogi Adityanath. He moved ahead, and the 2022 assembly polls were contested with him as the face of the BJP in UP.
Seven-phase polls were announced on 8 January 2022. A high-stakes election campaign was unleashed. Yogi Adityanath had an upper hand this time as he left his opponents in the party far behind in popularity and acceptability.
In his public addresses, his speeches made special mention of ‘bulldozers’. The central government under PM Modi continued with its scheme of distributing free ration, which was started during Covid-19. Besides this, the benefits of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (rural as well as urban), Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi and other welfare schemes were also reaching the rural masses.
Along with all his achievements, a song by Chandigarh-based Kanhaiya Mittal was all the rage during campaigning. ‘Jo Ram ko laye hain, ham unko layenge’ (We will vote those people who have brought Ram). It referred to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, which was being built back then.
Although the SP-BSP alliance had failed during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in 2022, the SP was the main Opposition against the BJP. At this time, turncoats had also started switching parties. Yet, against all speculations, calculations, defections and resignations, when results of the 2022 polls were announced, the BJP had won 255 seats.
Yogi Adityanath thus created history by becoming the first-ever CM of the state since Independence to win two consecutive terms. While Congress-led governments had won consecutive terms in the past, no CM had managed to complete a full term.
Two of Yogi Adityanath’s predecessors, Akhilesh Yadav (SP, 2012-17) and Mayawati (BSP, 2007-12), had also completed their full tenures as CMs, but they couldn’t bring their respective parties back to power.
For the 2022 victory, a big part of the credit was given to Yogi Adityanath, and he emerged much stronger within the BJP, while Keshav Prasad Maurya, who was a strong claimant for the CM’s post in 2017, much to his misfortune, lost his own Assembly seat. Excerpted with permission from At the Heart of Power: The Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh (published by Rupa Books).
Lead illustration: R Prasad
