Nepal Foreign Affairs (KATHMANDU, 18 March) – Yogi Adityanath, MP and the Mahant (head priest) of the Gorakhnath Math, a Hindu temple in Gorakhpur has named as the next Chief Minister of Utter Pradesh of India.
Yogi, 44 is a five-time member of Parliament and has represented Gorakhpur in the Lok Shaba since 1998. He was the youngest MP in 1998 at the age of 26.He is also the founder of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a social, cultural and nationalist group of youth who seek to provide a rightist Hindu platform.
A meeting of BJP’s legislators held on Saturday at state capital Lucknow chose him as Chief Minister. This decision has come as surprise to many not only in India but also in Nepal.
Some sections of Indian media and political analyst have criticized this decision of making Yogi the Chief Minister of UP as first serious mistake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Some others have lauded the decision of BJP top brass as Yogi was the only right candidate to the post.
Yogi, a controversial mascot of Hindutva and full timer of RSS, Hindu Fundamentalist Organization, is the one who has been making statements that Monarchy and Hindu nation should be restored in Nepal.
Nepal has cause to be worried with Yogi’s appointment as Chief Minister of UP that shares long international border with Nepal’s plain region. When Nepal was declared a republican and secular state, Yogi Adityanath took special time in Lok shaba and gave a very emotional speech.
That time the only concern of him was India should take an immediate decision on the changing situation of Nepal. He blamed then Man Mohan Singh led Indian Government for pushing Nepal into republican secular state. ”The only Hindu kingdom of the world, Nepal has been converted into secular and republican state. This move is not only against India but against Hindutva” he had said in lok Shaba.
The fear psychosis in Nepal is that UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will have a visible support to Nepal’s pro- monarchy and Hindu nationalist forces so that further inconsistency would be created in Nepal.