Aditya Nath
Encyclopedia
Adityanath Yogi is an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n religious leader and politician. He is the Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur (Lok Sabha Constituency)
Gorakhpur (Lok Sabha Constituency)
Gorakhpur is a Lok Sabha parliamentary constituency in Gorakhpur, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India.In the 2004 Lok Sabha Elections, the constituency had 1,432,002 eligible...

, elected in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections
Indian general election, 2009
India held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009. With an electorate of 714 million , it was the largest democratic election in the world to date.By constitutional requirement, elections to the Lok Sabha must be...

 on the Bharatiya Janata Party
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...

 (BJP) ticket.
Adityanath is the intended successor of Avedyanath. the current mahant or head priest of the
Gorakhnath Mutt, a Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 temple in Gorakhpur. He is also the founder of the Hindu Yuva Vahini
Hindu Yuva Vahini
The Hindu Yuva Vahini is a Hindu youth group, founded by Yogi Adityanath, intended successor of the Gorakhpur Mutt temple in Gorakhpur, India....

,a social, cultural and nationalist group of youth who seeks to provide rightist Hindu platform.

Political career

Adityanath was the youngest legislator in the 12th Lok Sabha at 26. The young yogi is the successor to former Hindu Maha Sabha president Mahant Avaidyanath at the Gorakhpur temple and is at the forefront of the Hindutva agenda. Education: B.Sc (Maths) from Garhwal University ...Pet projects: Education and cow sheds. His office proudly claims that the MP started 18 educational institutions including a polytechnic; and Gorakhpur has 15 cow sheds. ..His office claims he checked smuggling of beef from his constituency to Bangladesh. Adityanath who became the youngest legislator in the 12 th Lok Sabha at 26 ( 1998) and got reelected twice after that has helped change the situation in and around Gorakhpur in a qualitative manner. For several years, Adityanath has been active in converting other religious groups such as low-caste converts to Christianity)
back to Hinduism. In 2005, more than 5,000 people were converted in the town of Etah
Etah
Etah is a town which is also the district headquarters of Etah district of Uttar Pradesh state, India.-Geography:Etah is located at . It has an average elevation of 170 metres ....

 in UP
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

.
It is reported that he says: “I will not stop till I turn UP and India into a Hindu rashtra,”. A

Political Controversies

Adityanath was arrested during the Gorakhpur riots of 2007 where a Hindu youth was killed after some others
had opened fire on a Muslim religious
procession (Moharram).

A young man, was badly injured and hospitalised. The District Magistrate was informed at 1.30am and he told officials to brief Adityanath that he should not visit the site. As Agrahari died, Adityanath declared that now he would go to the spot. He declared his resolve to ensure justice for the Hindus. The MP demanded that curfew be imposed and withdrew. Later, however, Adityanath announced a torchlight procession. He announced a Shraddhanjali Sabha the next day at the town’s busiest crossroad. By this time, the dm had resolved not to allow it. Adityanath dismissed the warning, He and his ‘followers’ were taken to the police line. He and his ‘followers’ were taken to the police line. The three-km journey to the jail took more than 90 minutes. For the first time in his life, Adityanath is jailed under Section 151A of the crpc only to find later that he has also been booked under Sections 146, 147, 279, 506 of the Indian Penal Code., and was arrested and remanded for 14 days, on charges of
destroying a Muslim tomb. This led to further unrest
and several coaches
of the Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

 bound Mumbai-Gorakhpur Godan Express
was burnt, allegedly by Hindu Yuva Vahini
Hindu Yuva Vahini
The Hindu Yuva Vahini is a Hindu youth group, founded by Yogi Adityanath, intended successor of the Gorakhpur Mutt temple in Gorakhpur, India....

 activists.

Amongst those who were arrested were local MP Yogi Adityanath, MLC Y.D. Singh; both of the BJP; and MLA Dr Radha Mohan Das Aggarwal belonging to the Hindu Mahasabha. As violence from Gorakhpur spread to six more districts in three divisions of east Uttar Pradesh, popularly called Purvanchal, the state government today showed the door to both the DM and the SSP.In view of the main Moharram festival on Tuesday, police presence was further strengthened in Gorakhpur and the adjoining districts with the RAF also being rushed to the division along with the PAC.
However, the day after the arrest, Hari Om, along with police chief Raja Srivastava were transferred.
This was widely perceived as a result of Adityanath's clout with the Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

 government of Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav in Hindi मुलायम सिंह यादव is an Indian politician and has influence mainly in Uttar Pradesh state of India...

.

Furthermore, when the new officials, Rakesh Goel and S.K. Bhagat joined duty
the next day, they first paid a visit to Adityanath in jail. Adityanath was released
soon thereafter.

Subsequently, Adityanath protested his jailing in the parliament.

Also he has been accused of communalism and rioting between the Muslim and Hindu community all over the state of uttar pradesh. Is accused of using alcohol and cash for vote policy in winning his elections.

Relations with the BJP

The Adityanath faction has had a strained relation with mainstream
Bharatiya Janata Party
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...

 for
more than a decade.
With the emergence of a separate powerbase in Eastern Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

,
Adityanath has been seeking greater power, causing further conflicts.

On December 22–24, 2006, Adityanath organized a
three day Virat Hindu Mahasammelan at Gorakhpur, during the
same period when the BJP was holding its National Executive Meet
in Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

 in the same state.

Elections, 2007 and 2009

The Uttar Pradesh Elections, 2007 saw a conflict between Adityanath and
the BJP leadership - he wanted more than 100 seats in this region to go to candidates selected by him, but the party leadership would not agree. Subsequently a compromise agreement was reached, possibly with inputs from the RSS
RSS
-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...

,
and eight of his candidates were fielded. It is said that Yogi worked against the party during the elections and BJP was able to win only 51 seats from the region against the projection of 100 to 120 seats.In the Indian General Election, 2009
Indian general election, 2009
India held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009. With an electorate of 714 million , it was the largest democratic election in the world to date.By constitutional requirement, elections to the Lok Sabha must be...

, Adityanath defeated Vinay Shankar
Tiwari, son of the leading mafia don turned politician Hari Shankar Tiwari
Hari Shankar Tiwari
Hari Shankar Tiwari is an India politician from Gorakhpur inEastern Uttar Pradesh with the Indian National Congress. In the 1982 U.P. State Elections, he was one of the first Indian politicians to win an election while in prison....

, by more than three lakh
Lakh
A lakh is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand . It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and is often used in Indian English.-Usage:...


votes.
The young and dynamic politician Varun Gandhi
Varun Gandhi
Feroze Varun Gandhi is an Indian politician and a Member of Parliament , a member of the 15th Lok Sabha. He is the son of the late Sanjay Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi and belongs to the Gandhi-Nehru family. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party National Executive and the youngest National...

, also a member of
parliament, is a follower of Adityanath.

In March 2010, Adityanath was one of several BJP MPs who stated defiance to the
party whip on the Women's reservation bill
Women's Reservation Bill
Women's Reservation Bill or the The Constitution Bill, is a pending bill in India which proposes to provide thirty three per cent of all seats in the Lower house of Parliament of India the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies shall be reserved for women...

.

Parliament Election Performance

Yogi Adityanath took over charge of Gorakhpur constituency in 1998 from his Guru Mahant Avedyanath, “the head priest of Gorakhnath Mutt” and contested the election as Bhartiya Janta Party candidate. He won by narrow margin. Since then he was elected in general election 1999, 2004 and 2009. Every time his margin of victory kept on increasing dramatically. Observer says that active presence of Hindu Yuva Vahini, Yogi’s religious background with his real ground work and election management by Yogi,s close associate Raghvendra Pratap Sing ensure certain victory
Hindusm jindabad .

External links

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