CM Yogi leads UP in Rashtriya Ekta Diwas Unity Pledge
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
On Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's birth anniversary, 31 October 2026, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath publicly administered and recited the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas unity pledge, committing himself — and the state's citizens — to the unity, integrity and security of India.
The pledge, recited by CM Yogi and shared by the Chief Minister's Office of Uttar Pradesh, reads in translation: 'Main... Ishwar ki shapath leta hoon' — 'I swear before God that I shall dedicate myself to preserving the unity, integrity and security of India, and shall make every possible effort to spread this message among my fellow countrymen.'
A pledge born in 2014, now a national annual ritual
The Rashtriya Ekta Diwas — National Unity Day — and its accompanying pledge were instituted in 2014 to honour Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the 'Iron Man of India' who unified the country's fractured princely states after Independence. Every 31 October, government offices, schools, and institutions across India administer the same oath in a centrally promoted observance of national integration.
Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, has consistently foregrounded the event in official communications under CM Yogi's administration. By sharing the verbatim pledge text, the Chief Minister's Office frames the occasion not merely as ceremony but as a personal and public commitment — one directed at the state's roughly 240 million residents.
CM Yogi's record on unity messaging
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who has led Uttar Pradesh since 2017, has made national unity, law-and-order and cultural integration recurring themes of his public communications. Rashtriya Ekta Diwas gives that messaging its most formalised annual expression — a standardised oath that cuts across political lines and is observed in BJP-governed and opposition-governed states alike.
The choice to quote the pledge in full, in the first person, signals a deliberate act of identification: the Chief Minister is not merely presiding over the ritual — he is taking the oath himself, on the record, before the public.
As India marks another Patel anniversary, the ritual reminder of the country's hard-won unity carries its own quiet urgency — and Lucknow is making sure its voice is heard in the chorus.