Uttar Pradesh has been communally volatile, especially during the Samajwadi Party regime, but eastern UP remained largely free from any such unrest. It was in this region when Narendra Modi was campaigning during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls that Maanvela, a small village in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh with a high Muslim population was chosen for an election rally. Contrary to the media perception, the rally not only gathered huge crowds but also saw Muslims themselves come forward and offer their agricultural lands for the rally. The reason: Yogi Adityanath had helped the Muslims get their dues for the land acquired by the Gorakhpur Development Authority. It was this Gorakhpur where the Yogi’s tryst with politics began in 1996 when he was named in charge of Mahant Avaidyanath’s (his Guru) election campaign. A B.Sc graduate (1993) from Garhwal University in Uttrakhand, Yogi Adityanath made his parliament debut at the age of 26 after winning the election from Gorakhpur in 1998. He continued to win the seat for successive five times with large margins. Through his Gorakhpur Dham, Yogi Adityanath runs several degree and polytechnic colleges and a Sanskrit college with free boarding facilities, and all having a good Muslim presence. He runs one of the best hospitals catering to the poor and underprivileged. The grand temple in his ashram sees maximum shops run by Muslims as well. His work towards his constituency extended his influence beyond Gorakhpur to cover the entire eastern UP region.

For several years, Yogi Adityanath faced hostile governments both at the central and state levels. In spite of spending most of the funds allocated to his constituency, it remained largely backward and poor owing to this discrimination. However, big ticket development arrived after emergence of Modi. The Yogi successfully managed to set up a state-of-the-art 700 bed branch of AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) with the help of the NDA government at the centre. A defunct fertilizer plant having a potential of generating thousands of jobs was also revived. Today, many more employment generating programmes, including several national highway projects are planned to benefit his constituency.

Hindutva encompasses in its fold all – atheists, believers, agnostics, iconoclasts, temple worshipers and anyone and everyone. “Utsav ho, Upadrav nahi!” (Let there be celebrations, not hooliganism) was Yogi Adityanath’s first message to his followers. The rabble rouser is not the Yogi, but the hate mongering journalists and editors who seek to demean the verdict of the masses. Yogi’s UP will be as development oriented as the government at the centre, and as the governments run by other BJP Chief Ministers. Yogi Adityanath will prove to be a popular and effective Chief Minister, overseeing a regime of peace, harmony and justice for all.