CONTROVERSY'S FAVOURITE CHILD
A five-term Lok Sabha MP, BJP leader Yogi Adityanath is a fiery Hindutva mascot who has developed a reputation of being controversy’s favourite child over a period of time
BEGINNING OF POLITICAL INNINGS
Yogi Adityanath entered politics in 1998, after leaving his ancestral home at Pancher village in Pauri Garhwal, where he was born on June 5, 1972. He was born Ajay Mohan Bisht but changed his name after his indoctrination into the Nath sect. The year saw former BJP MP Mahant Avidyanath, a key leader of Ram Temple movement, passing the baton to Adityanath. A B.Sc graduate (1993) from Garhwal University in Uttrakhand, Yogi made his Parliament debut after winning the election in 1998 from Gorakhpur.
CONTROVERSIES AND CRIMINAL CASES
Adityanath’s radical pro-Hindutva image came to the fore in February 1999, when he allegedly tried to capture a graveyard by planting a peepal tree in Maharajganj. A case was registered against him. In 2007, he spend 15 days in jail when he was booked for inciting riots in Gorakhpur, which saw the killing of a Muslim youth. Riots broke out after a provocative speech following the killing of a Hindu youth in January. He was booked again by police. He is still facing trial in these two cases.
STRAINED TIES WITH BJP IN 2007
In 2007, upset with the BJP for not helping him during a crisis when he was jailed for communal riots, Adityanath fielded candidates from his nationalist outfit, the Hindu Yuva Vahini, against party nominees. The same year, he showed his clout when he fielded and ensured a victory for Radha Mohan Das Aggarwal on a Hindu Mahasabha ticket. Adityanath was ignored by the central leadership as he was not inducted in the Narendra Modi ministry despite being a lawmaker from Uttar Pradesh for a record five times.
SEERS DEMAND YOGI AS CM CANDIDATE
Even as the BJP ignored growing demands to project Yogi Adityanath as the party’s CM candidate, a meeting of some powerful saints and seers from Ayodhya and other places, held at the Gorakhnath temple in 2016, pitched Yogi Adityanath as the party’s chief minister face and pointed out that decks for construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya could only be cleared when Yogi becomes the chief minister.