Mahant Chandnath (21 June 1956 – 17 September 2017) was an Indian politician and religious leader. He represented the Alwar Seat in the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok ...

and was also the head of the

Nath Natha, also called Nath (), are a Shaivism, Shaiva sub-tradition within Hinduism in India and Nepal. A medieval movement, it combined ideas from Buddhism, Shaivism, Tantra and Yoga traditions of the Indian subcontinent.

sect of

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

. He took ordination from

Mahant Shreyonath Mahant Shreyonath (1904–1985) was the Health Minister of the Indian state of Haryana and sixth chief/ Mahant of the Nath sect of Hinduism. Shreyonath succeeded his guru Mahant Purannath on 28 February 1939. After 39 years he gave ordination in ...

in 1978.

Career

Chandnath was the

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of the Baba Mast Nath University. He was also the chief of the

sect of Hinduism. On 29 July 2016, he declared Mahant Balaknath as his successor in a ceremony that was attended by

Yogi Adityanath Yogi Adityanath (born Ajay Mohan Singh Bisht; 5 June 1972) is an Indian Hindu monk and politician. He is currently serving as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh since 19 March 2017, became the first to hold the office for two consecutive ter ...

and Baba Ramdev. In the 2004 Indian parliamentary election, Chandnath fought for the Alwar seat on a

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

ticket. But he was defeated by Karan Singh Yadav, who belonged to the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

. For the 2004

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

by election, Chandnath was given a ticket to contest the

Behror Behror () is a city in the Kotpulti-Behror district of Rajasthan of the Jaipur division. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the eponymous ''Behror'' Tehsil and shares headquarters for Kotputli-Behror district with Kotputli. It ...

seat. For the election, the party state president Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi and chief minister

Vasundhara Raje Vasundhara Raje Scindia (born 8 March 1953) is an Indian politician, who has held two terms as the chief minister of Rajasthan. She was previously a minister in the Union Cabinet of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and was India's first Minister of Small ...

held election rallies in his constituency. In the election, he emerged victorious by defeating a party rebel Jaswant Singh Yadav by a margin of 13 thousand votes. In the 2014 Indian Parliamentary election, Chandnath declared assets worth 2 lakh rupees ($3100). In the election, his opponent was Jitendra Singh of the Congress. He won the election and hence became a member of the parliament.

Controversies

During the 2004 election, there was a pending murder charge against Chandnath. During the 2014 Indian Lok Sabha election, a video became popular on the internet where allegedly

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

'' Baba Ramdev asked him to refrain from speaking about the issue of black money before the media. In February 2017, Chandnath was sentenced to one year rigorous imprisonment by a court in

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

for criminal conspiracy after being found guilty in a case of land fraud.

Death

Chandnath died on 17 September 2017, aged 61 in a hospital in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

due to cancer. Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

tweeted that he would be remembered for doing social work.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Chandnath, Mahant 1956 births 2017 deaths People from Alwar district Rajasthan MLAs 2003–2008 India MPs 2014–2019 Lok Sabha members from Rajasthan Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Rajasthan Indian politicians convicted of corruption