37 Facts About Yogi Adityanath

Yogi Adityanath was born on Ajay Mohan Singh Bisht; 5 June 1972 and is an Indian Hindu monk and politician, belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party who has been serving as the 21st Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh since 19 March 2017.

Yogi Adityanath is the longest serving chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, being in office for 8 years, and the only UP chief minister to have two consecutive terms.

Previously, Adityanath served as a member of India's parliament for almost two decades, from 1998 until 2017.

Yogi Adityanath is the mahant of the Gorakhnath Math, a Hindu monastery in Gorakhpur, a position he has held since September 2014 following the death of Mahant Avaidyanath, his spiritual Guru.

Yogi Adityanath founded Hindu Yuva Vahini, a now defunct Hindu nationalist organisation.

Yogi Adityanath has an image of a Hindutva nationalist and a social conservative.

Yogi Adityanath was placed 5th in 2023 and 6th in 2024 on the list of India's most Powerful Personalities, conducted by The Indian Express.

Yogi Adityanath was born as Ajay Mohan Singh Bisht on 5 June 1972 in the village of Panchur, in Pauri Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh in a Garhwali Rajput family.

Yogi Adityanath's late father, Anand Singh Bisht, was a forest ranger.

Yogi Adityanath was the second born in the family, among four brothers and three sisters.

Yogi Adityanath completed his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Uttarakhand.

Yogi Adityanath left his home around the 1990s to join the Ayodhya Ram temple movement.

Yogi Adityanath was promoted to the rank of Mahant or high priest of the Gorakhnath Math after the death of Avaidyanath on 12 September 2014.

Yogi Adityanath was made Peethadhishwar of the Math amid traditional rituals of the Nath sect two days later.

Yogi Adityanath belongs to a specific tradition of Hindutva politics in Uttar Pradesh that can be traced back to the Mahant Digvijay Nath.

Four years after Yogi Adityanath was designated Avaidyanath's successor, he was elected to the Lower House of the Indian Parliament.

Yogi Adityanath was elected as Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur first time in 1998 during 12th Lok Sabha at the age of 26, He was its youngest member at that time.

Yogi Adityanath was elected to the Parliament for five consecutive terms in 1998,1999,2004,2009 and 2014 elections.

However, the BJP has not let the tensions mount because Yogi Adityanath has served as a star campaigner for the party.

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.

In 2007, Yogi Adityanath threatened to field 70 candidates for the state assembly against the BJP candidates.

In 2018, Yogi 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.

Yogi Adityanath was a prominent campaigner for the BJP in the 2017 assembly elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Yogi Adityanath imposed a blanket ban on cow-smuggling and a stay on UPPSC civil service exam results, exams and interviews until further order.

Yogi Adityanath 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.

Since 2017, Yogi Adityanath had ordered the closing of many slaughterhouses.

Since 2018, through executive orders, Yogi Adityanath had closed around 200 tanneries out of more than 400 that were active in Jajamau, Kanpur.

Yogi Adityanath's government was credited for making 50 megawatts of power and a 22-kilometre-long electricity line in a record four months for the Samsung mobile plant.

Yogi Adityanath held consultations with private firms in order to increase private investment in the defence corridor project.

Yogi Adityanath subsequently inaugurated Defense Corridor in 26 February 2023.

In September 2020, Yogi 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, Yogi Adityanath announced that a Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 to curb "Love Jihad" would be passed by his government.

Yogi Adityanath 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.

On 10 March 2022, with the announcement of the legislative assembly results, the BJP-led NDA alliance secured 273 seats with Yogi Adityanath winning his second term.

Yogi Adityanath is seen as a potential successor of Prime Minister Modi by a large group of Hindu Nationalists across the country.

Yogi Adityanath government was criticised for malpractices in appointment of 69,000 teachers in state sponsored schools of Uttar Pradesh.

In 2025, a biographical film titled Ajey: The Untold Story of a Yogi Adityanath was announced, depicting his life.