Yogi Adityanath (born Ajay Mohan Singh Bisht; 5 June 1972)[a] 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.

[20][21] Yogi Adityanath was born as Ajay Mohan Singh Bisht on 5 June 1972 in the village of Panchur, in Pauri Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh (now in Uttarakhand) in a Garhwali Rajput family.

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

[31][35][36] 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.

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 activists.

[45] 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.

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.

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.

[51][52] 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.

[54][55][56] 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.

[59][60] 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.

[64] 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.

[72][73] 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.

[80] 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"[which?].

[82] 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.

[83][84] On 31 October, Adityanath announced that a Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 to curb "Love Jihad"[c] would be passed by his government.

[88] 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.

[90][91] 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 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 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.