On Monday (6th May), Akhilesh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo and Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency candidate visited the Siddhapeeth Baba Gauri Shanker Mahadev Mandir in Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh to pray before beginning his campaign. However, several youths then cleaned the temple with Gangajal, alleging that Akhilesh Yadav brought Muslim leaders with him who desecrated the temple by wearing shoes within its premises. The youths also said that a sign board outside the temple clearly says entry for non-Hindus is prohibited.
A video of the several youths cleaning the temple after Yadav’s visit went viral online. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that Akhilesh Yadav was accompanied by Muslim leaders who entered the temple wearing shoes. Due to this, Hindus undertook the purification of the Gauri Shankar Temple with Gangajal.
Shivendra Kumar Gwal, the BJP city president, claimed that some Muslims and workers accompanying the Samajwadi Party supremo entered the temple wearing shoes and allegedly spat. Gwal welcomed Akhilesh Yadav’s visit, but referred to him as a “electoral Hindu.” Non-Sanatanis are forbidden from entering the temple, as stated on a board outside.
Speaking to the media the youths who cleaned the temple said, “We have cleaned the temple as Akhilesh Yadav came here today. Firstly, he has no sense of how pooja-paath [worship] is performed. Even though it is clearly written on a board outside the temple that non-Sanatanis are not allowed inside the temple, he [Akhilesh] came here with Muslims. And the Gaur Shankar Mandir has been cleaned, Akhilesh Yadav too will be cleaned from Kannauj [in the elections].”
The angry youths questioned the SP leader if he would visit any mosque or dargah while wearing shoes and also asked if he finds only Hindu temples to insult.
While the BJP claimed that the temple was cleaned as non-Hindus accompanying Akhilesh Yadav entered the temple wearing shoes and allegedly spat there, several Samajwadi Party leaders tried to stir a caste discrimination controversy.
Samajwadi Party leader IP Singh claimed that the BJP believes that backward, Dalit, and oppressed people have no right to worship in Hindu temples. “Honorable National President Shri Akhilesh Yadav Ji belongs to the backward class, hence BJP got the temple premises washed with Gangajal, before that it had got the CM residence washed. BJP believes that backward, Dalit, deprived and exploited people have no right to worship in Hindu temples. This time these PDA, backward, Dalit, deprived and exploited people together will show BJP the way out of power.”
However, he failed to address concerns of the violation of the sanctity of the temple with a retinue of leaders accompanying Akhilesh Yadav wearing shoes inside the temple premises.