3 decades after taking diksha, Yogi attends a family wedding

Lucknow: Over three decades after he renounced the material world to take sanyas-diksha in the Nath tradition, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attended a wedding in his family at the Panchur village of Pauri Garhwal district on Sunday. He came back after spending three days in Uttarakhand on Sunday.Yogi was nominated the successor of Mahant Avaidyanath after taking diksha in Feb 1994 and became the head of Gorakhsa Peeth after the demise of his guru in 2014. He has visited his family in Panchur very few times in the past 30 years. He couldn't attend the last rites of his father Anand Singhb Bisht when he passed away in 2020 as Yogi was managing the spread of Covid pandemic. He went to see his mother Savitri Devi at a Rishikesh hospital where she was admitted last year.Yogi's village Panchur is in Yamkeshwar block of Pauri Garhwal and his family still resides in the village modestly. He has four brothers and three sisters.During his stay in Panchur, his affection and love for children was on display when he met his granddaughter Avika. Yogi dotingly asked the small girl whether she ate anything and offered her water in a bottle. A video surfaced on Sunday showing Yogi giving water from a bottle to a little girl sitting on a chair, talking to her affectionately. A young boy was holding the girl.Yogi had visited his native town to participate in the wedding ceremony of his niece Archana and stayed in the hilly state for three days before leaving on Sunday. Yogi visited several places, including three junior high school buildings in Pauri Garhwal, during his stay and met his old friends, relatives and other local people.On Saturday, he visited his childhood school, accompanied by Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. He had studied till fifth standard at Thangar, a village in Pauri Garhwal district. Yogi inaugurated the renovated and upgraded school building and expressed happiness to have been given the opportunity to revisit the place where he had spent a considerable time as a kid. He noted significant changes in the building since his last visit.