Lucknow: All along the seven phases of the Lok Sabha election, which were spread over two months, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath invoked the people’s support showing off development, and more often in the name of god, an obvious call considering the recent consecration of the famed Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
However, it was not enough to prevent the downslide of BJP, which lost around half of the seats it had won in the previous general election.
During the run up to the polls, Adityanath addressed around 200 political rallies, including road shows, covering 5-6 constituencies every day in the state.
He was often joined in the campaign by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to ensure that the saffron party reasserts its dominance in the key Hindi heartland state.
There were few who could anticipate the drastic turnaround that sent the INDIA bloc skyrocketing to a place where it can call the shots even while being in the opposition.
According to the latest information available at the Election Commission site, the Samajwadi Party won two seats while it was leading in 35 constituencies.
The BJP bagged five seats and was leading on 28 seats. Congress emerged victorious at one place and was leading on five seats.
Adityanath, besides covering almost all the districts and Parliamentary constituencies in UP, sought support for the party candidates in Bihar, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and even in the South.
Two years into his second consecutive term as the UP CM, the saffron-clad priest hogged the headlines over his bulldozer policy and for his talking tough against the putative Mafia-raj fostered by the SP during its regime.
He was at the forefront in the run-up to the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in January this year, and sang paeans to Modi, calling on voters: “Jo Ram ko Laye, Hain hum unko Leyenge.”
As a start campaigner for the party, Adityanath pulled crowd wherever he went to address poll rallies, especially in religion-charged constituencies like Mathura, where he campaigned for Hema Malini.
He also took on Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, while campaigning in Delhi, as well as in Punjab.
When Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke of improved law and order in UP, in the very next breath he praised Adityanath, as the architect of a reformed Uttar Pradesh.
Shah on several occasions mentioned how Adityanath made criminals and mafias walk to the police stations or flee the state.
In a rally in Punjab, Adityanath rebuked the AAP government over its alleged failure to rein in the drug mafias and promised to send bulldozers to raze illegal properties.
The “Modi-Yogi” pair was an instant hit among the people in UP as well as outside.
Born Ajay Singh Bisht in Panchur of Pauri Garhwal on June 5, 1972, the diminutive monk renounced home in 1990 to join Ayodhya Lord Rama temple movement and became a disciple of Mahant Avaidyanath of Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur.
He made Gorakhpur his “karmabhoomi” and at length, came to be known as Yogi Adityanath.
In his initial days, he studied in his village and later went on to do his Bachelor’s in Mathematics from the Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Uttarakhand.
On direction of his guru (Mahant Avaidyanath) he entered politics and went on to become the youngest Lok Sabha member from Gorakhpur in 1998 at the age of 26.
He represented Gorakhpur Parliamentary seat four more times till he became chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2017.
