He left his home around the 1990s to join the Ayodhya
Ram temple movement. Around that time, he also became a disciple of
Mahant Avaidyanath, the chief of the
Gorakhnath Math.[25] Mahant Avaidyanath was leading the Ayodhya Ram temple movement at that time. While based in
Gorakhpur after his initiation, Adityanath has often visited his ancestral village, establishing a school there in 1998.[24]
Adityanath was promoted to the rank of Mahant or high priest of the Gorakhnath Math after the death of Avaidyanath on 12 September 2014. He was made Peethadhishwar (Head Seer) of the Math amid traditional rituals of the
Nath sect two days later.[27]
Early political career
Yogi Adityanath belongs to a specific tradition of
Hindutva politics in
Uttar Pradesh that can be traced back to the Mahant
Digvijay Nath, who led the placing of idols in the
Babri Masjid in
Ayodhya on 22 December 1949.[28][29] Both Digvijay Nath and his successor Avaidyanath belonged to the
Hindu Mahasabha and were elected to the Parliament on that party's ticket. After the BJP and the
Sangh Parivar joined the
Ayodhya movement in the 1980s, the two strands of Hindu nationalism came together. Avaidyanath switched to the BJP in 1991, but nevertheless maintained significant autonomy. Four years after Adityanath was designated Avaidyanath's successor, he was elected to the Lower House of the Indian Parliament (the
Lok Sabha).[28]
After his first electoral win, Adityanath started his own youth organisation
Hindu Yuva Vahini, which came to be known for its activities in the
eastern Uttar Pradesh and was instrumental in Adityanath's meteoric rise. There have been recurrent tensions between Adityanath and the BJP leadership over the allocation of election tickets. However, the BJP has not let the tensions mount because Adityanath has served as a star campaigner for the party.[28][30][31]
In 2006, he took up links between
Nepali Maoists and Indian Leftist parties as a key campaign issue and encouraged
Madhesi leaders to oppose Maoism in Nepal.[13][32] In 2008, his convoy was reportedly attacked while en route to
Azamgarh for an anti-terrorism rally. The attack left one person dead and at least six persons injured.[33][34]
In January 2007, Adityanath with other BJP leaders had gathered to mourn the death of a man who was killed because of religious violence. He and his supporters were subsequently arrested by the police and lodged in Gorkhapur jail on the charges of disturbing peace and violating prohibitory orders. His arrest led to further unrest during which several coaches of the
Mumbai bound Mumbai–Gorakhpur Godan Express were burnt, allegedly by protesting
Hindu Yuva Vahini activists.[35][36][37] The day after the arrest, the District Magistrate and the local police chief were transferred and replaced.[38]
Member of Parliament
When elected to the
12th Lok Sabha at age of 26, Adityanath was its youngest member. He was elected to the Parliament from
Gorakhpur for five consecutive terms (in the 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 elections).[9][39]
Adityanath's attendance in Lok Sabha was 77% and he asked 284 questions, participated in 56 debates and introduced three private member Bills in the
16th Lok Sabha.[40]
It is said that Adityanath once stated: "If one Hindu girl marries a Muslim man, then we will take 100 Muslim girls in return … If they kill one Hindu man, then we will kill 100 Muslim men."[41][42]
Relations with the BJP
Adityanath has had strained relations with the BJP for more than a decade[when?].[43]
He often derided and undermined the BJP, criticising its dilution of the Hindutva ideology.[44] Having established his own independent power base in Eastern
Uttar Pradesh, with the support of the Hindu Yuva Vahini and the Gorakhnath Math, he felt confident to be able to dictate terms to the BJP.[45] When his voice was not heard, he revolted by fielding candidates against the official BJP candidates. The most prominent example was the fielding of
Radha Mohan Das Agarwal from Gorakhpur on a Hindu Mahasabha ticket in 2002, who then defeated BJP Cabinet minister,
Shiv Pratap Shukla by a wide margin.[44] In 2007, Adityanath threatened to field 70 candidates for the state assembly against the BJP candidates. But he reached a compromise in the end.[46][47][48]
In 2009 Parliamentary elections, Adityanath was rumoured to have campaigned against the BJP candidates who were then defeated.[44]
Despite his periodic revolts, Yogi Adityanath has been kept in good humour by the RSS and the BJP leaders. The deputy prime minister
L. K. Advani, the RSS chief
Rajendra Singh and the VHP chief
Ashok Singhal have visited him in Gorakhpur. During 22–24 December 2006, Adityanath organised a three-day Virat Hindu Mahasammelan at Gorakhpur at the same time as the BJP National Executive Meet in
Lucknow. Despite the conflict, several RSS and VHP leaders attended the Mahasammelan, which issued a commitment to pursue the Hindutva goals despite the BJP's claimed "abandonment" of them.[44][49]
In March 2010, Adityanath was one of several BJP MPs who defied the party whip on the
Women's Reservation Bill in the Parliament.[50][51]
In 2018, he campaigned for BJP candidate
Pratap Puriji Maharaj for Rajasthan state assembly election.[52]
After becoming the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Adityanath kept around 36 ministries under his direct control, including
Home,
Housing, Town and country planning department, Revenue,
Food and Civil Supplies, Food Security and drug administration, Economics and statistics, Mines and Minerals, Flood control, Stamp and registry, Prison, General administration, Secretariat administration, Vigilance,
Personnel and appointment, Information, Institutional finance, Planning, Estate department, Urban land, UP state reorganisation committee, Administration reforms, Programme implementation, National integration, Infrastructure, Coordination, Language, External aided project, Relief and Rehabilitation, Public Service Management, Rent Control, Consumer protection and Weights and measures.[57][58]
In his first cabinet meeting, held on 4 April 2017, the decision was taken to
forgive loans to nearly 87
lakh (8,700,000) small and marginal farmers of Uttar Pradesh, amounting to ₹363.59 billion (US$4.6 billion).[59][60] For
India's Independence Day celebrations in 2017, his government singled out Muslim religious schools, requiring them to provide video evidence that their students had sung the Indian national anthem.[61]
In 2017, his government ordered withdrawal of around 20,000 "politically motivated" cases, including those against himself and other politicians.[62]
Adityanath ordered the forming of quasi-vigilante anti-"
romeo" squads.[63] He imposed a blanket ban on
cow-smuggling and a stay on
UPPSC civil service exam results, exams and interviews until further order.[64] He imposed a ban on the
vices of tobacco, paan and gutka in government offices across the state, and compelled officials to pledge to devote 100 hours every year for the
Swachh Bharat Mission.[65] More than 100 "
black sheep" policemen were suspended by the
Uttar Pradesh police.[66]
Since 2017, Adityanath had ordered the closing of many slaughterhouses. As a direct consequence, the tanneries that sourced raw leather from the slaughterhouses were impacted. Several tanneries were also ordered to be shut down. The tannery industry was estimated to be worth 50,0000 crore ₹ in 2017. The industry directly or indirectly gave employment to more than 10 lakh people. Since 2018, through executive orders, CM Adityanath had closed around 200 tanneries out of more than 400 that were active in Jajamau, Kanpur.[67]
Committee Against Assault on Journalists found that 138 cases of persecution of journalists were registered under Yogi Adityanath's term in Uttar Pradesh between 2017 and February 2022.[71]
After the
Citizenship Amendment Act protests in Uttar Pradesh, he put up hoardings with names, photographs and addresses of protestors. Only after the order of the
High Court, which called his government's action "shameless" and an "unwarranted interference in privacy", the posters were removed.[72][73]
Infrastructure development
In July 2018, Adityanath, along with Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and
Moon Jae-in,
president of South Korea, inaugurated the world's largest smartphone manufacturing factory in
Noida, Uttar Pradesh.[74] His government was credited for making 50 megawatts of power and a 22-kilometre-long (14 mi) electricity line in a record four months for the Samsung mobile plant.[75][76]
In November 2019, Uttar Pradesh government along with Ministry of Defense laid the foundation stone of Defence Industrial Corridor project in Jhansi.[77] Yogi Adityanath held consultations with private firms in order to increase private investment in the defence corridor project.[78]
The New York Times relayed analysts' estimations of Adityanath as a candidate for
Prime Minister of India in 2024, provided he "delivers on some fronts"[which?].[79] In August 2020, India Today's "Mood of the nation" survey showed Adityanath as the best-performing chief minister in India.[80]
In July 2021, Adityanath introduced the UP population control draft bill 2021–2030. On the event of
World Population Day, the chief minister unveiled the policy on reducing the population growth for the forthcoming years. There were also several benefits announced based on the laid single child and two-child policies.[86] He said the state population policy focused on efforts to increase the accessibility of contraceptive measures issued under the Family Planning Programme and provide a proper system for safe abortion.[87] This policy also received lots of reactions and criticisms from other political parties. It was said that this policy mainly focused on the upcoming general elections in the state. The opposition
Congress in the state has called it a "political agenda" and the Samajwadi Party said it is "murder of democracy".[88][89]
On 10 March 2022, with the announcement of the legislative assembly results, BJP-led
NDA alliance secured 273 seats with Adityanath winning his second term. He and his party wrote history, being the first chief minister to return to power after completing a full 5-year term in office. The BJP is also the first party to return to power consecutively after 37 years.[90][91] He was only the third chief minister, in Uttar Pradesh's political history to complete a full 5-year term as the chief minister of the state after
Mayawati of
BSP and
Akhilesh Yadav belonging to the
Samajwadi Party.[91]
In the buildup to the assembly elections, Adityanath successfully used a campaign with a bulldozer as its main image, earning him the nickname "Bulldozer Baba".[92][93] The term had initially been used as a taunt by an opposition party.[94] His speeches during the polls included hate speeches against Muslims, promoting religious polarisation and Hindu supremacy. Further, his speeches included the idea that rights of Hindus are at odds with that of Muslims, where he repeatedly conflated Muslims with terrorists and criminals, and the opposition parties as appeasers of Muslims.[95]
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