Hindu symbolism surrounding Adityanath’s swearing-in signals a new rashtra

25 March 2022
Adityanath at a Vishwa Hindu Parishad event in 2018. He is the first Uttar Pradesh chief minister in 37 years to be re-elected after a full term. In the run-up to his swearing-in ceremony, office bearers of the BJP, on written instructions from the party, organised pujas at temples across the state.
SANJAY KANOJIA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Adityanath at a Vishwa Hindu Parishad event in 2018. He is the first Uttar Pradesh chief minister in 37 years to be re-elected after a full term. In the run-up to his swearing-in ceremony, office bearers of the BJP, on written instructions from the party, organised pujas at temples across the state.
SANJAY KANOJIA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Ajay Singh Bisht, is popularly known as Yogi Adityanath, took oath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh today, at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. In the run-up to the ceremony, office bearers of the BJP, on written instructions from the party, organised pujas at temples across the state. The incumbent chief minister reportedly invited over fifty priests and seers personally, including prominent members of the Ram Janmabhoomi trust, which is overseeing the construction of the temple in Ayodhya, as well as priests from Varanasi, Mathura and Vrindavan.

Adityanath is the first chief minister of the state in 37 years to retain power after completing a full term. In his first term, Adityanath—the head priest of the famous Gorakhnath Math—became a poster-boy of Hindu right. His second term will see the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, as well as the centenary celebrations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP’s ideological parent. 

Sunil Kashyap is a reporting fellow at The Caravan.

Keywords: Uttar Pradesh Elections 2022 Adityanath BJP Hindu Rashtra
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