The new chief minister of Uttar Pradesh -Mahant Yogi Adityanath is the new symbol of Hindutva-inspired development. WSN presents you the person behind the face.

Meet Yogi Adityanath

• 45-year-old Yogi-ascetic, monk, bachelor for life.
• Religious head of the Gorakhpur mutt -a highly revered Hindu temple in the pantheons of top sacred Hindu temples of India.
• Deeply steeped in the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh) tradition.
• Five-time member parliament from the Gorakhpur constituency, with an increasing number of votes every time. In his first election in 1999, he won by a margin of 7339 votes and in 2009 with a whopping 2,20,000. The constituency has a sizeable number of Muslims in the constituency. Persona Dramatis in the Indian Parliament.
• Founder of the Hindu Suraksha Vahini -a right-wing group focussed on protection of Hindu citizens of the country.
• Prime Accused in the 2007 anti-Muslim riots in Gorakhpur. A senior journalist from Gorakhpur -Manoj Singh has compiled a long list of incidents in which Adityanath’s volunteers have been involved in anti-Muslim propaganda and acts.
• NOW Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh -biggest state in Central India.
• His predecessor was Avaidyanath and he was preceded by Mahant Digvijayanath. Mahant Digvijayanth was the leader of the Hindu Mahasabha. In 1949, he was instrumental in launching a long religious ceremony in Ayodhya, after which suddenly idols of Ram Lalla and Sita appeared in the Babri Masjid. Digvijyanath was anti-partition.   

Media rhetoric:

“If they (Muslims) take one Hindu girl, we will take 100 Muslim girls. If they kill one Hindu, we’ll kill 100 Muslims.”

“India must become a Hindu state.”

What is happening across UP in the last 10 days since he assumed power:

• Pan and tobacco chewing banned in the corridors of power.
• Abattoirs, especially those considered illegal for not completing ALL conditions and governmental compliances, ordered shut in the capital Lucknow and other villages, towns and cities across the whole state.
• The meat industry on tenterhooks. This is the buffalo meat industry. Cow slaughter is banned.
• Tigers in Safaris and reserves in UP made to eat chicken instead of black meat.
• Young couples not allowed privacy in public parks.
• Media scared.
• Muslims doubly scared.
• Vigilante Cow protectionists and Romeo volunteers have a field day.

…And the Response:

Milan Vaishnav -the author of When Crime Pays -Money and Muscle Power in UP Politics and fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace says, “His hardline rhetoric may be toned down, but it won’t disappear. It is who Yogi is. The challenge for Modi is to ensure that it does not completely overtake the development agenda, but everyone — especially Modi — knows what you are getting when you pick an Adityanath. There should be no illusions about that.”

Aakar Patel of Amnesty International India chapter has written to Yogi Adityanath. Amnesty has demanded that, “Adityanath’s toxic ideas must not become part of his governance. He must publicly retract from all his divisive rhetoric of the past.”

An expert commentator on contemporary political affairs says, “Yogi Adityanath is heir to a history and legacy of a mutt that has long believed in militant involvement in politics.”

With a thumping majority win of 324 seats out of 403, Uttar Pradesh has given thumbs up to the likes of Yogi Adityanath, BJP President Amit Shah and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  A sizable chunk of the country is already under BJP rule. Will the whole of India follow Uttar Pradesh in 2019 Parliamentary elections? Will Yogi Adityanath overtake Modi and be the Prime Ministerial candidate in the 2024 parliamentary elections?

I ask, “Will power go to his head or will power tame him? Is he the BJP candidate for Prime Ministership in 2024? Is this a march to give competition to Nepal as being the only proclaimed constitutional Hindu country in the world?

The world is watching!