Adityanath has also thanked the PM and several other leaders who have greeted him on his birthday.
Here are some interesting facts about his life
- He was born as Ajay Mohan Bisht and he is the second born among four brothers and three sisters.
- He has a BA degree in Mathematics from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Uttarakhand.
- At the age of 22, he renounced materialistic life and became the disciple of Mahant Avaidyanath and changed his name to Yogi Adityanath. He was also designated as the successor of Avaidyanath in 1998.
- He is also known for starting a youth wing Hindu Yuva Vahini in 2002. This increased his popularity in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. The members of the organisation have been accused of inciting communal violence on several occasions.
- Adityanath is the ‘mahant’ or head priest at Gorakhnath Math, a temple in Gorakhpur. He got the position after his father's spiritual ‘father’ Mahant Avaidyanath died in 2014.
- At the age of 26, he became the youngest MP of the 12th Lok Sabha.
- He represented Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency for five consecutive terms (from 1998-2017) on a BJP ticket.
- He is also known to be a firebrand Hindutva leader and has had fallouts with the BJP over dilution of Hindutva ideals. In 2007 he threatened to field 70 candidates for the state assembly against official BJP candidates.