passions against Gandhi that led to his assassination and imprisoned for 9 months. After release, he spearheaded the Ram Janmabhoomi movement of 1949, organising a 9-day long recitation of Ramcharit Manas, at the end of which the idols of Rama and Sita were placed inside the Babri Masjid. The Babri Masjid was locked down as a result, but it led to Digvijay Nath's rise in the Hindu Mahasabha. He was appointed the General Secretary at the national level and won the election for the MP of Gorakhpur in 1967. His successor, Mahant Avaidyanath got elected as an MLA for Maniram as an independent in 1962, 1967, 1969, 1974 and 1977 and also as an MP from Gorakhpur in 1970 and 1989. Soon after the Sangh Parivar started its own Ram Janmabhoomi movement, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and got elected as MP of Gorakhpur on a BJP ticket in 1991 and 1996. Yogi Adityanath has also been active in the BJP, he has been the MP from Gorakhpur since 1998. He founded the Hindu Yuva Vahini (Hindu Youth Force). The group has been involved in many religious activities, including the defence of Hindus in Mau riots of October 2005 and in Gorakhpur of January 2007. In the General elections of 2007, the Hindu Yuva Vahini was at one point contemplating running for the elections on its own under the Hindu Mahasabha, but finally reached a compromise with the BJP. Later Yogi Adityanath took an oath as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on 19 March 2017. In May 2015, the math organized special havans and kalash-yatra to pray for the victims of 2015 India-Nepal Earthquakes which killed close to 10,000 people. Incidents On 3 April 2022, a man named Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi was alleged to have tried to enter the temple premises forcibly and attacking police constables on duty. and booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). On 30 January 2023, 10 months after the attack Ahmad Murtaza was sentenced to death by a special NIA-ATS court in Lucknow, he was found guilty for waging war against country and murderous attack. References Further reading External links Shiva temples in Uttar Pradesh Hindu monasteries in India Tourist attractions in Gorakhpur