How A Youth Turned Into Yogi Adityanath

It has been a roller coaster ride for Ajay Singh of Panchoor village of Pauri region in Uttarakhand. Born on June 5, 1972, became an MP barely after turning 26, that too from a faraway land - Gorakhpur in eastern UP.
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By then the world would know him as Yogi Adityanath, the protege of Gorakhshnath Temple head Mahant Awaidyanath.

Since the mahant, who also hailed from the hill state, was in touch with his native place, he used to travel very often to the state. It was during one such visit that some RSS functionaries introduced Ajay to him. Despite, knowing well the life at Gorakhshanath temple was not easy, Ajay accompanied the mahant to Gorakhpur in 1993 and kept on serving him with full devotion. The grueling schedule that he used to follow then, when the day would start at 3.30 am - is now part of his life.
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Happy with his devotion for over a year, the mahant, who was fast catching age, decided to bless Ajay officially. On February 15, 1994 Ajay Singh was given guru diksha at a simple function and was rechristened as Yogi Adityanath.

It was after a couple of years that Mahant announced him as his heir apparent. In 1996, when the mahant was contesting the Lok Sabha election, Yogi first became visible as his election manager. However, in 1998, Awaidyanath opted out of poll race and asked Yogi to contest instead. Making debut in the 12th Lok Sabha, Yogi became the youngest MP at 26.