Facing a crucible

Yogi Adityanath, a five-term member of Parliament from Gorakhpur, has relentlessly and tirelessly served Uttar Pradesh and its 25-crore people like a Karmayogi, protecting their interest as chief minister since 2017. A postgraduate in mathematics from Garhwal University, and Peethadheeshwar (chief priest) of the Goraksha Peeth, Gorakhpur — he is not a person with stereotype, rather he sets new records and covers new milestones. He is also challenging several decade-old myths prevailing in the state. The UP CM is a person who has managed to strike a balance between politics and religion to live up to the expectations of people.

Hundreds of the government schemes — from employment generation to development — were implemented by his government. The aim has not only been to provide the best road infrastructure but also to lay down a wide network of roads in the state. There is almost 24-hour electricity supply in the urban as well as rural areas. Government jobs are provided to the people of the state in a transparent manner. Free ration is being made available to the poor since the time the pandemic had hit the country. Students are being given free Android phones and laptops. Over two dozen new medical colleges and hospitals have been inaugurated. Lucknow and Kanpur metro rails have become operational, and now, expansion of metro rail is being planned in half a dozen other cities.

Yogi Adityanath is the first chief minister of the state who visited sites of development projects for physical supervision in all the 75 districts of the state. He toured every nook and cranny of the state and visited every district at least four to five times during his present tenure. There are around a dozen districts where the CM visited an equal number of times. Anyone will appreciate his commitment, as even during Corona infection, he did not stop his routine office work. When he recovered from the infection, he was seen serving victims in all possible ways like a brave warrior by visiting the worst-affected districts without any distraction.

There was a prevailing myth that a CM of the state loses his/her job on their visit to Noida, therefore, several CMs used to avoid visiting Noida — whether it was follower of Buddhist tradition, Mayawati or foreign-educated Akhilesh Yadav (who got his higher education from Australia). No one could muster enough courage to break this myth. But Yogi, belonging to Nath Sampraday, challenged this myth not once or twice but visited Noida around half a dozen times. Agra guest house is tagged as a bad omen for any chief minister staying there. Rajnath Singh was the last chief minister who stayed there and lost his chair. It was Yogi Adityanath who challenged such superstitions and stayed there in the night. So, this Assembly election has become a litmus test for Yogi Adityanath as there are several other such myths and superstitions to be broken.

If we talk about the political legacy of Gorakshapeeth Mutt, it is very rich and powerful. The resolve of Mahant Digvijay Nath, who entered the Lok Sabha in 1967, to serve people by joining politics as Peethadheeshwar under the banner of Hindu Mahasabha was taken forward by Mahant Avaidyanath who got elected to UP Assembly for five times and to Parliament for four times. He was one of the top-rung leaders of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and when he retired from active politics, he handed over the Banton to his successor Yogi Adityanath who is taking the journey further as an invincible warrior for the past 23 years. His political voyage that started in 1998 as a Lok Sabha member from Gorakhpur is continuing unabated. After getting elected five times from Gorakhpur, he became CM of the state in 2017. If the BJP manages to retain power in the state this time around, then he will be the first CM of the state to complete the term and get re-elected at the same time. History will be created when any CM takes oath of the office for the second consecutive term in UP. Narayan Dutt Tiwari was the chief minister under whose leadership the Congress won the assembly elections in the undivided UP in 1985 and he became chief minister for the second time in 1988. On both occasions, he became the CM for a short term.

So far, the BJP has given four CMs to the state, including Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta, Rajnath Singh and Yogi Adityanath but the incumbent Chief Minister is the only among them who has completed his tenure. Also, he is only the third CM in the state to complete the term. The two other chief ministers, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, have completed their tenure from 2007 to 2012 and 2012 to 2017, respectively. Around 21 CMs have taken oath of the office in the state so far but none of them were able to complete their tenure — except these three — for reasons like they were changed, the government fell due to short of majority or certain other reasons.

Meanwhile, the process of electioneering in UP has already started. The election campaign in Uttar Pradesh for the BJP is being led by the Chief Minister who is contesting the assembly election for the first time. Yogi Adityanath is in the fray from his home constituency Gorakhpur Sadar seat from where the BJP has won every election since 1989. Gorakhpur and the surrounding areas are known to be the stronghold of the Mutt. The strength can be assessed from the fact that when the Mutt did not like the BJP candidate for the Assembly election in 2002, it fielded Dr Radha Mohan Das as the Hindu Mahasabha candidate who had won. However, he later on joined the BJP. Radha Mohan Das had been getting elected from the seat since then till the last 2017 elections. Now, Yogi Adityanath himself is contesting from the seat as BJP's chief ministerial nominee.

Views expressed are personal