Fiery Hindutva mascot Adityanath is UP CM

Keshav Maurya and Dinesh Sharma are his deputies

​Lucknow/New Delhi: Yogi Adityanath, the controversial mascot of hardline Hindutva, will be the next Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. In a move that surprised many, the 44-year-old five-term MP from Gorakhpur was elected BJPLP leader at a meeting of the newly elected MLAs, a week after the BJP won a resounding three-fourth majority in the key Hindi heartland state, making a combe-back to power after 15 years.

State BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya, who was himself in contention for the top job, first announced Adityanath's election. Maurya, the MP from Phulpur in Allahabad, will be the Deputy Chief Minister along with senior BJP leader and Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma, who will also be another Dy CM. Adityanath and his Cabinet of ministers will be sworn in at a grand ceremony in Lucknow on Sunday evening.

Despite keeping a relatively low-profile following the election victory, Adityanath is not one to stay out of the limelight and was a controversial and prominent face during the election campaign in Uttar Pradesh and emerged as the BJP’s power-centre in Poorvanchal.

Adityanath is a strong advocate of the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya and his surging popularity has seen his margin of victory increasing with every re-election. In contrast to his fiery speeches, Adityanath was reserved after the BJP's massive victory last week. "There was resounding support from people that they will vote for a government that does not represent any caste or religion," he said.

Born Ajay Singh, he received a BSc degree before becoming a sanyasi and changing his name to Yogi Adityanath. He has made a name for himself in recent times with his strong speeches both inside and outside Parliament. Adityanath is also the founder of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a social, cultural and nationalist group of young people that has many Dalit Hindus in its ranks.

Adityanath has several criminal cases, including ones related to murder and rioting, pending against him. He has also attracted controversies in the recent past. During the election campaign, he lauded US President Donald Trump’s immigration ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations and said that similar action was needed to curb terror activities in India.

In 2015, he compared Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan to Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed during the controversy over intolerance, and also asked those who don't practise Surya Namaskar to leave India.

In 2014, he made two controversial speeches. The first involved 'love jihad' where he exhorted Hindu men to marry 100 Muslim women if one Hindu woman was forcibly converted. A few weeks later, he blamed the communal tensions in Uttar Pradesh on the rise in numbers of the minority community.