Yogi Adityanath

Early political career

Adityanath belongs to a specific tradition of Hindutva politics in Uttar Pradesh that can be traced back to the Mahant Digvijay Nath. Both Digvijay Nath and his successor Mahant Avaidyanath belonged to the Hindu Mahasabha and were elected to the Parliament on that party's ticket. The head priest (Mahant) of the Gorakhnath Math, a prominent Hindu temple, Mahant Avaidyanath switched to the BJP in 1991, but nevertheless maintained significant autonomy. Four years after Adityanath was designated Avaidyanath's successor, he was elected to the Lower House of the Indian Parliament (the Lok Sabha). Avaidyanath is known as the mentor and guru of Adityanath. Adityanath was elected as a Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur for the first time in 1998 during the 12th Lok Sabha at the age of 26; he was its youngest member at that time. He was elected to Parliament for five consecutive terms, that is, in the 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 elections.

Adityanath's attendance in the Lok Sabha was 77% and he asked 284 questions, participated in 56 debates and introduced three private member Bills in the 16th Lok Sabha. Adityanath had also said in the Lok Sabha on 13 August 2014, that who is communal should be a topic of discussion and that whoever claims that My God, my Prophet is the most superior is communal; to say that the only people who are entitled to life are those who believe in him which is not allowed by the Hindu philosophy of life, the guiding principle of which is "live and let live." After his first electoral win, Adityanath started his own youth organisation Hindu Yuva Vahini, which came to be known for its activities in eastern Uttar Pradesh and was instrumental in Adityanath's meteoric rise. There have been recurrent tensions between Adityanath and the BJP leadership over the allocating election tickets. However, the BJP has not let the tensions mount because Adityanath has served as a star campaigner for the party.

In 2006, he took up links between Nepali Maoists and Indian Leftist parties as a key campaign issue and encouraged Madhesi leaders to oppose Maoism in Nepal. In January 2007, Adityanath along with other BJP leaders had gathered to mourn the death of a man who was killed because of religious violence. He and his supporters were subsequently arrested by the police and lodged in Gorakhpur jail on the charges of disturbing peace and violating prohibitory orders. His arrest led to further unrest during which several coaches of the Mumbai bound Mumbai–Gorakhpur Godan Express were burnt, allegedly by protesting Hindu Yuva Vahini members. The day after the arrest, the District Magistrate and the local police chief were transferred and replaced.

Murder case dismissal

In 1999, Adityanath was charged in connection with the death of head constable Satya Prakash Yadav, who was the personal security officer of Samajwadi Party leader Talat Aziz. The incident occurred in Maharajganj when Adityanath and his supporters reportedly opened fire at Aziz and his supporters. The CB-CID (Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department) conducted an investigation and filed a final report that cleared Adityanath of the charges. In 2019, Allahabad High Court's special court for MPs and MLAs dismissed the 20-year-old murder case, upholding the CB-CID's findings and the CJM court's decision.

Relations with the BJP

In 1998, Yogi Adityanath was elected to the Indian Parliament after joining the BJP; however, there were reports of his strained relations with the state BJP leaders. It has also been alleged that he often derided and criticised the dilution of the Hindutva ideology by the BJP in the 1990s and early 2000s. Having established his independent power base in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, with the support of the Hindu Yuva Vahini and the Gorakhnath Math, he felt confident to be able to dictate terms to the BJP. When his voice was not heard, he revolted by fielding candidates against the official BJP candidates. The most prominent example was the fielding of Radha Mohan Das Agarwal from Gorakhpur on a Hindu Mahasabha ticket in 2002, who then defeated BJP Cabinet minister, Shiv Pratap Shukla by a wide margin. In 2007, Adityanath threatened to field 70 candidates for the state assembly against the BJP candidates. But he reached a compromise in the end. In the 2009 Parliamentary elections, Adityanath was rumoured to have campaigned against the BJP candidates who were then defeated.

Despite his periodic revolts, Adityanath has been kept in good humour by the RSS and the BJP leaders. The deputy prime minister L. K. Advani, the RSS chief Rajendra Singh and the VHP chief Ashok Singhal have visited him in Gorakhpur. During 22–24 December 2006, Adityanath organised a three-day Virat Hindu Mahasammelan at Gorakhpur at the same time as the BJP National Executive Meet in Lucknow. Despite the conflict, several RSS and VHP leaders attended the Mahasammelan, which issued a commitment to pursue the Hindutva goals despite the BJP's claimed "abandonment" of them.

In March 2010, he was among the few BJP leaders, who pushed for a discussion in the party on the women's quota issue, following Gopinath Munde's advocacy for OBC sub-quota within the Women's Reservation Bill.

In 2018, Adityanath supported and campaigned for fellow Hindu monk and BJP candidate Pratap Puriji Maharaj, the head of the Taratara math, in the Rajasthan state assembly election.

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (2017–present)

First term (2017–2022)

Adityanath was a prominent campaigner for the BJP in the 2017 assembly elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The state government appointed him as chief minister on 18 March 2017; he was sworn in the next day, after the BJP won the assembly elections.

Ministry allocation

After becoming the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Adityanath kept around 36 ministries under his direct control, including Home, Housing, Town and country planning department, Revenue, Food and Civil Supplies, Food Security and drug administration, Economics and Statistics, Mines and Minerals, Flood control, Stamp and registry, Prison, General administration, Secretariat administration, Vigilance, Personnel and appointment, Information, Institutional finance, Planning, Estate department, Urban land, UP state reorganisation committee, Administration reforms, Programme implementation, National integration, Infrastructure, Coordination, Language, External aided project, Relief and Rehabilitation, Public Service Management, Rent Control, Consumer protection and Weights and measures.

In his first cabinet meeting, held on 4 April 2017, the decision was taken to forgive loans to nearly 87 lakh (8,700,000) small and marginal farmers of Uttar Pradesh, amounting to ₹363.59 billion (US$3.8 billion). For India's Independence Day celebrations in 2017, his government singled out Muslim religious schools, requiring them to provide video evidence that their students had sung the Indian national anthem.

Law and order

In 2017, his government ordered the withdrawal of around 20,000 "politically motivated" cases, including those against himself and other politicians.

Adityanath ordered the forming of quasi-vigilante anti-"romeo" squads. He imposed a blanket ban on cow-smuggling and a stay on UPPSC civil service exam results, exams and interviews until further order. He imposed a ban on the vices of tobacco, paan and gutka in government offices across the state, and compelled officials to pledge to devote 100 hours every year for the Swachh Bharat Mission. More than 100 "black sheep" policemen were suspended by the Uttar Pradesh police.

Since 2017, Adityanath had ordered the closing of many slaughterhouses. As a direct consequence, the tanneries that sourced raw leather from the slaughterhouses were impacted. Several tanneries were also ordered to be shut down. The tannery industry was estimated to be worth ₹50,0000 crore in 2017. The industry directly or indirectly gave employment to more than 10 lakh people. Since 2018, through executive orders, Adityanath had closed around 200 tanneries out of more than 400 that were active in Jajamau, Kanpur.

In the first 10 months of his first term, he conducted four police encounters per day. National Human Rights Commission issued a notice to the state government and a bench of three judges from the Supreme Court of India warned and issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government in this case.

Committee Against Assault on Journalists found that 138 cases of persecution of journalists were registered under Adityanath's term in Uttar Pradesh between 2017 and February 2022.

After the Citizenship Amendment Act protests in Uttar Pradesh, he put up hoardings with names, photographs and addresses of protestors. Only after the order of the High Court, which called his government's action "shameless" and an "unwarranted interference in privacy", the posters were removed.

Infrastructure development

In July 2018, Adityanath, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Moon Jae-in, president of South Korea, inaugurated the world's largest smartphone manufacturing factory in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. His government was credited for making 50 megawatts of power and a 22-kilometre-long (14 mi) electricity line in a record four months for the Samsung mobile plant.

In November 2019, the government along with the Ministry of Defense laid the foundation stone of the Defence Industrial Corridor project in Jhansi. Adityanath held consultations with private firms in order to increase private investment in the defence corridor project. He subsequently inaugurated Defense Corridor in 26 February 2023. Uttar Pradesh government inked over 150 defence manufacturing contracts valued at Rs 24,000 crore in July 2024 for the UP Defence Industrial Corridor, spanning Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi, Aligarh, Chitrakoot, and Agra districts which will create an estimated 40,000 new jobs.

The New York Times relayed analysts' estimations of Adityanath as a candidate for Prime Minister of India in 2024, provided he "delivers on some fronts". In August 2020, India Today's "Mood of the nation" survey showed Adityanath as the best-performing chief minister in India.

Ordinance and bills

In September 2020, Adityanath asked his government to devise a strategy to prevent "religious conversions in the name of love", and even considered passing an ordinance for the same if needed. On 31 October, Adityanath announced that a Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 to curb "Love Jihad" would be passed by his government.

The Uttar Pradesh state cabinet cleared Adityanath's ordinance on 24 November 2020. following which it was approved and signed by state Governor Anandiben Patel on 28 November 2020.

In July 2021, Adityanath introduced the UP population control draft bill 2021–2030. On the event of World Population Day, the chief minister unveiled the policy on reducing population growth for the forthcoming years. There were also several benefits announced based on the laid single-child and two-child policies. He said the state population policy focused on efforts to increase the accessibility of contraceptive measures issued under the Family Planning Programme and provide a proper system for safe abortion. This policy also received lots of reactions and criticisms from other political parties. It was said that this policy mainly focused on the upcoming general elections in the state. The opposition Congress in the state has called it a "political agenda" and the Samajwadi Party said it is "murder of democracy".

Second term (2022–present)

On 10 March 2022, with the announcement of the legislative assembly results, the BJP-led NDA alliance secured 273 seats with Adityanath winning his second term. The BJP was the first party to return to power consecutively after 37 years. He was only the third chief minister, in Uttar Pradesh's political history to complete a full 5-year term as the chief minister of the state after Mayawati of BSP and Akhilesh Yadav belonging to the Samajwadi Party.

In the buildup to the assembly elections, Adityanath successfully used a campaign with a bulldozer as its main image, earning him the nickname "Bulldozer Baba". The term had initially been used as a taunt by an opposition party. His speeches during the polls included hate speeches against Muslims, promoting religious polarisation and Hindu supremacy. Further, his speeches included the idea that the rights of Hindus are at odds with that of Muslims, where he repeatedly conflated Muslims with terrorists and criminals, and the opposition parties as appeasers of Muslims. Adityanath denied the accusations of the Samajwadi Party that the BJP is a sectarian party with a communal way of thinking, that the BJP's ideology is based on inclusivity and togetherness, not division and added that we believe in 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas (Together with all, trust of all)' and that the BJP's goal of "Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, Sarve Santu Niraamaya," which means "May all be happy, may all be free from illness," was emphasised by Chief Minister Yogi as a governing principle." He is seen as a potential successor of Prime Minister Modi by a large group of Hindu Nationalists across the country.

Allegations and criticism

Concerns were raised for alleged maladministration in the appointments and recruitment of candidates to various departments of government. The opposition leaders from Samajwadi Party as well as BJP's own allies like Anupriya Patel criticised the Yogi government time and again for sabotaging the right of Other Backward Castes and Dalits. In a letter written to Uttar Pradesh government, Patel alleged that the appointment authorities under Adityanath government are labelling the OBC and SC, ST candidates as ineligible for appointment in the interview based appointment process to various departments of government.

The criticism also came from within the party and in 2023, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya wrote to the Appointment and Personnel department to publish the data of selection of candidates belonging to OBC, SC and ST communities to various departments of government.

Yogi Adityanath government was also criticised for malpractices in appointment of 69,000 teachers in state sponsored schools of Uttar Pradesh. Many candidates alleged that despite securing more marks than general caste candidates, they were placed in reserved quota and allotted the seats meant for reserved quota candidates, thus reducing their overall representation and increasing the representation of candidates belonging to general castes. In a reply in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Adityanath government later admitted that mismanagement has taken place in the appointments, which was followed by subsequent decrees of Allahabad High Court on reviewing the result and republishing it after considering the quota rules properly.

Furthermore, Adityanath was also criticised for bulldozer action against properties and lands allegedly claimed by him to be owned by criminals and mafia across the state of Uttar Pradesh, including politicians with criminal cases against them.

Political positions held

Electoral history

Lok Sabha elections

Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections

In popular culture

In 2025, a biographical film titled Ajey: The Untold Story of a Yogi was announced, depicting his life. The film, inspired by Shantanu Gupta's book The Monk Who Became Chief Minister, explores his journey from a Nathpanthi monk to a prominent political leader as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. The film was officially released on 19 September 2025.

Many other books have been written about Adityanath, which include Yogigatha: Yogi Adityanath Ki Jivangatha by Shantanu Gupta, which is the Hindi counterpart to his definitive biography, Lokhriday Samrat Yogi Adityanath: Darshan Evam Vikas Drishti by Amit Singh, Monk to Majesty: Biography of Yogi Adityanath by B.K. Chaturvedi and Yogi Adityanath: Religion, Politics and Power by Sharat Pradhan and Saurabh Shukla.