Mohan Yadav: A PhD holder and BJP's key OBC leader with RSS roots

BHOPAL: Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, an OBC leader and three-time BJP MLA, who is considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), started his political career when he was a student and climbed up the ladder to occupy the top post in Madhya Pradesh.

The 58-year-old MLA from Ujjain South took oath on Wednesday as the chief minister of MP.

He is the state's fourth OBC chief minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2003, after Uma Bharti, Babulal Gaur and Shivraj Singh Chouhan. He is also the second CM from Ujjain, after Prakash Chandra Sethi of the Congress.

Yadav's appointment as chief minister also marks end of the era of BJP stalwart and four-time CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who dominated the state's politics for close to two decades.

Besides holding PhD, LLB and MBA degrees, Yadav is also known to possess sword-fighting skills.

The surprise elevation of Yadav, who was not among contenders for the CM's post, is being seen as a move by the BJP to win over the numerically significant Other Backward Classes (OBC) community in other parts of the country ahead of the Lok Sabha polls due next year.

The OBCs account for more than 48 per cent of Madhya Pradesh's population and form the core voter base for the saffron party.

Yadav was born on March 25, 1965, in Ujjain, the city which is synonymous with the famous Mahakaleshwar Temple, one of the 12 Jyotirlings. He began his political career as joint secretary of the Madhav Science College Ujjain in 1982 and was later elected as its president in 1984. Yadav first became a minister in 2020 when the BJP came back to power following the collapse of the Congress government led by Kamal Nath.

Yadav, who is seen as a vocal Hindutva leader, started his political career when he was a student and rose to become higher education minister of Madhya Pradesh where he announced to make the Hindu epic 'Ramcharitmanas' as an optional subject in colleges in 2021.

He has been associated with the RSS since his young days and from 1993 to 1995, he was its functionary in Ujjain city, said an office-bearer of the Hindutva organisation.

Elected as an MLA for the first time in 2013 from Ujjain South, Yadav served as chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation from 2011-13. He was re-elected from the seat in 2018 and again in 2023.

Yadav, the higher education minister in the previous Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, defeated his nearest rival, Congress candidate Chetan Yadav, by margin of 12,941 votes in the November 17 polls.

In 2021, Yadav announced to include lessons of the Hindu epic 'Ramcharitmanas' as an elective (optional) course under the philosophy subject for first-year students of graduation (BA). He had also moved a proposal to rename the Hindi nomenclature of the vice-chancellor's post in state universities from 'Kulpati' to 'Kulguru'.

Yadav is the second leader to become chief minister from the temple town of Ujjain where Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the newly-constructed Mahakal Lok corridor last year.

His jubilant supporters said Yadav got the top job because of the blessings of Lord Mahakal (Lord Shiva).

The Congress made alleged irregularities in the construction of Mahakal Lok corridor a major poll issue.

The over 900-metre-long corridor -- Mahakal Lok -- near the famous Lord Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain suffered damage in May due to a windstorm. Since then, the Congress has been targeting the ruling party alleging irregularities in the redevelopment project around the ancient shrine.

However, in an interview to PTI on October 11, Yadav termed it as a "false propaganda." Yadav also served as chairman of the Ujjain Development Authority (UDA) from 2004-2010. The religious town hosts Simhast (Kumbh) mela every 12 years.

He is vice president of the Madhya Pradesh Olympic Association and president of the MP Wrestling Association.

The BJP MLA, who is married to Seema Yadav, has two sons and a daughter.

Soon after being elected as the BJP legislature party leader on Monday, Yadav said he would work to fulfil the expectations of the people of the state and thanked the party leadership for reposing faith on a ''small worker''.

''I am going to work to the expectations of the people of the state who have overwhelmingly voted for the BJP. The BJP has given a big responsibility to a small worker. I am going to work to the expectations of the party,'' he said.

''I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda. I will work on the welfare and development (schemes) launched by Modiji and Shivraj Singh Chouhan,'' Yadav said.