How Akhilesh push for Shiva temple in home turf is fuelling SP, BJP battle before 2027 polls

Indian Express

a day ago

After a 28-km ride on an open tractor-trolley, about 30 women get down near the under-construction Kedareshwar Mahadev Temple in Etawah city in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah district — the home turf of Samajwadi Party (SP) president and ex-chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. The temple is already attracting more than a thousand devotees each day.
The temple is spread across about 11 acres of land in the heart of the Yadav belt, where many devotees of Shiva are looking to offer prayers before the upcoming Sawan month. It is being built by a trust headed by Akhilesh Yadav.
The temple's foundation was laid by Akhilesh in 2021, seven months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi did the same for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The consecration ceremony of the Kedareshwar Mahadev Temple was led by SP MP Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh, around the same time PM Modi inaugurated the Ram Temple in January 2024. Now, both temples are nearing completion within the next six months, ahead of the 2027 UP Assembly polls.
Among various similarities between the two temples is the 'Krishnapurush Shila', the granite stone used to sculpt idols, sourced from Tamil Nadu Kanyakumari, which provided the stone for the Ram Lalla idol in the Ram Temple and is being used for the entirety of the Kedareshwar Mahadev Temple. Like the Ram Temple, the construction of the Etawah temple did not use cement or iron, instead using the ancient 'tribandhan' technique of joining stones with a mixture of limestone, banana, honey and jaggery.
With Akhilesh continuing to face attacks from BJP leaders, particularly UP CM Yogi Adityanath, for not attending the Ram Temple consecration event, and for his party's alleged 'minority appeasement', the SP is using the Etawah temple construction to counter such allegations.
'The rumours that the SP is anti-Hindu is being spread by the BJP, which believes more in propaganda. Anyone who has been to Etawah knows about the grand idol of Hanuman ji installed by (SP founder) Mulayam Singh Yadav ji and how even today, before every big occasion, prayers are performed there first. Moreover, a grand statue of Krishna is also under construction in Saifai and will be inaugurated soon,' said Gopal Yadav, SP general secretary, who hails from Etawah and held a prasad distribution event at the Kedareshwar Mahadev Temple on July 1 to mark Akhilesh's birthday.
Gopal also said, 'Only few know that Akhilesh ji keeps a nine-day fast during Navratri but we do not spread propaganda on the rituals we follow. Our rituals include everyone and are not caste-specific. Thus, with the construction of the Kedareshwar Mahadev Temple, people would know without anyone saying what is a lie and what is the truth.'
The BJP, however, claims that the Etawah temple would not change perception about the SP. 'They (SP leadership) did not visit the Ram Temple and stopped their leaders from visiting it too. If they do not believe in the 'ishta deva (chosen deity)' of Hindus and the temple, then we do not think that the construction of this (Etawah) temple would change anything in the mind of people towards them,' said the BJP's Etawah district president Arun Kumar Gupta.
'For them, PDA actually means only Yadavs and no one else and this everyone knows. No construction of any temple would change that,' Gupta added, referring to the SP's PDA — Pichda (backward), Dalit, Alpsankhyak (minority)' — plank.
Months after the consecration of the Ram Temple, the BJP had lost the Ayodhya (Faizabad) seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, to the SP. On its part, the SP leadership seems to be moving cautiously on promoting the Kedareshwar Mahadev Temple.
Beyond the temple politics or the timing of its construction, several residents of Etawah seem to be mainly concerned about the development of a 'centre of faith' and the economic boost it might bring to the belt, much like the Ram Temple did in Ayodhya.
Hukum Singh, who runs a small tea shop outside the temple, said, 'I have not visited the Ram Temple and do not know anything about the politics, but this (Etawah) temple has given me employment. My fields are here and I decided to open this shop about two years ago, when the temple's construction picked up speed. The temple is not yet complete but I see the number of pilgrims rising.'
'We could not go to the Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand. We don't know if we will be able to go at all, but at least here in Etawah we will be able to see Kedarnath,' says 28-year-old Priya Soni, who has come to visit the temple. 'Kedarnath Temple is open just three months a year.'
While the Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand is one of the popular Char Dham pilgrimage sites, the Etawah temple is being compared to it owing to their similar structures. The 72-foot main structure of the Kedareshwar Mahadev Temple is modelled on the Kedarnath Temple, but has been built an inch short as a 'mark of respect' to the Char Dham temple.
Built by a team of engineers, architects and researchers from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, other parts of the Kedareshwar Mahadev Temple, including the 50-foot tall main entrance, are also inspired by temples in South India like the Vaitheeswaran Temple in Tamil Nadu's Thanjavur.
'The intention is to show that this temple is for all. It is an amalgamation of North and South. It should be looked at without a political lens. This temple falls on the pious Shiva Aksha Rekha, the straight line on which eight Shiva temples right from Kedarnath in Uttarakhand to Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu fall, and this would be ninth. Once completed, it would be a major centre of faith,' said Gopal Yadav.
In 2018, an Andhra Pradesh-based construction company was tapped to build the Etawah temple. The company's director Madhu Botta said, 'Between 2019 and 2021, we did a lot of homework for this construction and visited temples all across Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand. We must have visited 30-40 temples in Andhra and Tamil Nadu alone, after which the final drawing was prepared.'
According to those involved in the project, the estimated cost of the temple is Rs 40-50 crore.