Popular Hindu monk and Indian politician, Yogi Adityanath, is currently serving as the 22nd Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Yogi Adityanath was appointed as the UP CM in 2017 and he continues to serve in the position. A prominent figure in UP politics, Yogi Adityanath is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and he has been an active politician since 1998.
At the age of 21, Yogi Adityanath left his home in 1993 to actively participate in the Ram Mandir Movement. He then became a disciple of Mahant Avaidyanath and during this time he also began his political journey. In 1998, he became the youngest Lok Sabha member from Gorakhpur at the age of 26 and has since then represented UP’s Gorakhpur constituency for five terms. While much is known about Yogi Adityanath’s political journey and public life, his personal life remains out of the limelight. Read on to know more about him here:
1. Yogi Adiyanath was born on June 5, 1972, to Anand Singh Bisht and Savitri Devi in the village of Panchur, in Pauri Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh (now in Uttarakhand). His real name is Ajay Singh Bisht and he has four brothers and three sisters.
2. Yogi Adiyanath was born into a Garhwali Rajput family. His father, Anand Singh Bisht, was a forest ranger.
3. Ajay Singh Bisht aka Yogi Adityanath holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Uttarakhand, India (which was earlier a part of Uttar Pradesh).
4. Apart from being a prominent politician, Yogi Adityanath is also the Mahant or chief priest of the Gorakhnath Math in Gorakhpur. He was made the high priest of the Gorakhnath Math after his guru Mahant Avaidyanath passed away in 2014. He also founded a Hindu Yuva Vahini, which is a socio-cultural outfit, in 2002.
5. Since becoming a Lok Sabha member in 1998, Yogi Adityanath has handled various departments like the Committee on Food to the Consultative Committee, the Ministry of Home Affairs, etc over the years. On March 19, 2017, he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of UP and continues to hold the position for the second term. He has also published a few books, namely: ‘Yaugik Shatkarm’, ‘Hathayog: Swaroop evam Sadhna’, ‘Hindu Rashtra Nepal: Atit, Vartmaan evam Bhavisya’, ‘Rajyog: Swaroop evam Sadhana’.