Yogi Adityanath visits ancestral village first time after becoming UP CM

Mr. Adityanath could not attend the funeral of his father on April 21, 2020, so as to ensure the enforcement of COVID-induced lockdown

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on May 3 visited his native village Panchur in the Pauri district for the first time to meet his mother and other relatives after becoming the Chief Minister.

Tucked behind thickly-forested hills in the Pauri district, the village is barely visible from a distance on normal days, but it shimmered in soft light on the occasion of his visit.

After visiting his village, Mr. Adityanath also tweeted a picture in which he is seen touching his mother’s feet and taking her blessings.

Mr. Adityanath had not been able to attend even the funeral of his father Anand Bisth on April 21, 2020 in Haridwar, following his death in AIIMS, New Delhi a day earlier amid the country-wide Covid outbreak.

"I had the ardent wish to get a glimpse of my father at the final moment. However, following a sense of duty towards the state's 23 crore people during the COVID-19 pandemic, I could not do so," the Chief Minister had said, ruing his inability to attend his father’s funeral.

"Adityanath, in fact, visited his village for the first time in several years to attend any family function there,” an official said.

Though Mr. Adityanath has been coming to Uttarakhand to attend political programmes and address public meetings, it is for the first time that he has visited his ancestral village.