Yogi Adityanath, born in 1972 as Ajay Mohan Singh Bisht, is a monk-turned-politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party or the BJP. He has been the longest-serving Chief Minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, having been in office for over nearly seven years — since March 2017.
Head priest at the Gorakhnath temple, he first joined politics when he was named in charge of managing the election campaign for former MP Mahant Avaidyanath.
Yogi Adityanath represents the Gorakhpur urban constituency in the state legislative assembly. First elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998, he has served as the MP for Gorakhpur in the parliament. He was a member of the Legislative Council of the state between 2017 and 2022.
Very difficult to detect any sense of remorse or contrition in the way the administration has responded to this man made tragedy. Expecting Shastriji’s grandson to resign may have been unrealistic, but the effort to erase the role non availability of oxygen played in the deaths of several infants is callous, cynical. Equally heartless was the injunction to the police to celebrate Janmashtmi on a grand scale. The state of public hygiene in Gorakhpur, which contributes to the spread of this disease, was pointed out by Ms Tavleen Singh on a recent visit. Systemic improvements in public health institutions there must be, but the state administration must first take ownership of this individual failure.