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India Today
3 hours ago
- Politics
- India Today
Akhilesh Yadav, Aniruddhacharya debate on 'Shudra'; Roadside exchange viral now
A video from 2023 showing a roadside interaction between Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and spiritual leader Aniruddhacharya Maharaj has resurfaced and gone viral on social media. The clip captures the moment when the two met on an expressway, as Aniruddhacharya was walking back from Agra and Yadav happened to be travelling along the same Yadav, who was passing by, stopped and questioned the spiritual leader's use of the term 'Shudra'.advertisement In the video, Yadav asks, 'What did Krishna's mother first call him?' Aniruddhacharya responds, 'She called him Kanhaiya.' Yadav then replies, 'Okay, this is where our path and yours diverge. From now on, don't use the word 'Shudra' again.' After the video resurfaced, Aniruddhacharya Maharaj, popularly known as 'Pookie Baba' on social media, addressed the incident during a religious sermon. He questioned whether Akhilesh Yadav would have made a similar statement to someone from another religion. 'I want to ask Akhilesh Yadav, can he say the same thing to a Muslim – that our path and your path are different?' he said. He further said, 'You have served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. If a leader thinks this way, it reflects on the direction of the state." He claimed he made no objectionable remarks during the interaction and stated that it was Akhilesh Yadav who brought up the issue of the term 'Shudra' on his own. The brief interaction has sparked widespread discussion online, with supporters and critics from both sides weighing in. The remark 'our path and your path are different' drew particular attention, leading to political and religious social media users accused Yadav of being disrespectful to a religious figure, while others have supported his stand against caste-based terms. Aniruddhacharya Maharaj is a well-known spiritual figure with a large following across India. - EndsMust Watch
The Print
9 hours ago
- Politics
- The Print
Fed up of 75 yrs of empty promises, Mainpuri villagers rebuild road on their own, and ban politicians
Ask anyone how the road came about. Pat comes the response: 'When we got tired of pleading for development, we joined forces and built a road.' It is another thing altogether that this drive was borne out of desperation and sheer frustration with netas and authorities alike for not coming forward to take care of the dirt track connecting the village to the main road in the last seven decades. Agra: Where there's a will, there is a road. Residents of Majra Rajpur village in Uttar Pradesh Mainpuri district can proudly claim to have themselves raised funds and relaid a road on their own. For decades, the 200 meter long and about 8 feet wide road of Majra Rajpur village, linking the village to the main Elabans Road, was in a dilapidated condition. Though there are other roads, they pass through Elabans village and are a lot longer, often congested. As soon as it rained, the road would get completely closed due to mud and waterlogging. Children faced trouble going to schools in the city and so did the people while taking patients to the hospital in Mainpuri. Villagers say that they demanded road construction from local leaders and officials during the tenure of all three governments of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and BJP, but no one paid attention. Located in Gram Panchayat Elabans under the Kishni development block, the village has a large number of Brahmin families as local residents. Ajay Mishra, a local resident, said that the villagers had submitted memorandums to the former MLAs as well as the incumbent Mainpuri MLA Brijesh Katheria for the construction of the road under the Pradhanmantri Gram Sadak Yojna but to no avail. The demand was also placed several times in the office of Dimple Yadav, the MP elected from Mainpuri. From the panchayat level to the district panchayat, the Block Development Officer (BDO), the tehsildar to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), no assurances were received. As soon as the elections came, all the leaders would promise to build the road only to disappear, the villagers recalled. Frustrated, the villagers decided that there was no point in waiting endlessly for the administration to build their road. About 20 youths and elders of the village raised Rs 70,000 with mutual cooperation. Broken bricks were laid for the road. The villagers picked up spades and started the work. Within a few days, a 200 meter roughly built brick road was completed and is now almost ready to link the village to the main road. 'We pleaded with the leaders and officials so many times that we began to feel ashamed of ourselves. So it was decided that the villagers will build the road on our own, and once it was built, no politicians will be allowed to enter the village through that road to ask for votes in the next elections,' Ajay, a villager, said. Another Annu Mishra said that there were about 250 residents and only 90 voters in the village. 'Everyone casts his or her vote, but still we have to struggle for even the basic necessities. We built this road out of self-respect. It is not just a brick road, it means that we don't have to beg in front of anyone now,' she asserted. Explaining the situation, Naresh Parmar, the representative of the village pradhan, said that a proposal was sent for the construction of a 200 m long concrete road but the village panchayat does not have funds. The road, he said, could only be built with funds from the development block or the Zila Panchayat. When contacted, officials of Mainpuri district expressed ignorance about this incident. Gopal Sharma, SDM Kishni, said that he would visit the village and ask the villagers about their problems. (Edited by Tony Rai) Also Read: Uprising in Pakistan, hope in Agra's 'mini Balochistan' where families still dream of a freed homeland
The Hindu
15 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Badri-Kedar Temple Committee seeking legal advice over construction of replica of Kedarnath temple in Samajwadi Party's bastion Etawah
Opposing the construction of the replica of Kedarnath temple in Samajwadi Party's (SP) bastion, Etawah, the authorities of Badri-Kedar Temple Committee (BKTC) said on Saturday (July 19, 2025) that they are seeking legal advice in the matter. The priest community in Uttarakhand is also up in arms against the temple project, launched by former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav. The construction of over 70 feet tall Kedareshwar Mahadev Temple, which looks exactly like Kedarnath temple, started in 2021. Being built at the approximate cost of ₹50 crore in front of Safari Park in Etawah, the home turf of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and is likely to be completed in the next six months. Akhilesh Yadav had recently shared a video of the temple on social stirring controversy over the same. Condemning the move of building the replica of a temple of 'religious and mythological importance', BKTC President Hemant Dwivedi said that Kedarnath temple is one of the 11 Jyotirlinga and it should not be copied in any way. 'It is mentioned in the Vedas and Puranas that Kedarnath Dham is located in the Himalayan region, hence the replica temple of this important religious place should not be built elsewhere, it is against religious beliefs,' he said. Mr. Dwivedi added that appropriate steps will be taken after legal opinion in the matter. he added that BKTC has also brought in the notice of the state government. Suresh Semwal, president of Char Dham Teerth Purohit Mahapanchyat, the body of priests associated with char dham temples, said that construction of the replica of Kedarnath temple in Etawah is not only tampering with religious sentiments of people but also an attack on the identity and tradition of the Hindu temples. 'It is an insult to faith of millions of Hindus. If Uttarakhand government will not take appropriate measure to stop the construction of the temple in Etawah, the priest community will be forced to move to court,' he added. After a Statewide agitation by the priest community last year, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) lead Uttarakhand government had pushed for a halt on the proposed construction of Kedarnath temple in Delhi's Burari. The project in Burari was inaugurated by the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami who faced a lot of heat over the same. After both political pressure from the Opposition Congress and from the Char Dham temple priests, the State government had proposed in the Cabinet to make take legal action on the misuse of the name of Char Dham temples.
Time of India
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
BJP using hate to deflect focus from real issues, says Akhilesh
Lucknow: Accusing the BJP of using discrimination and hate to further its politics at the cost of dividing people, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said people sitting on constitutional posts are deliberately using undemocratic means to shift focus of discourse from poor governance. SP's attack comes a day after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath described allegations of hooliganism by Kanwariyas as fake news being spread by vested interests and said that Muharram processions featured "violence and arson" before he wielded the iron fist. "In order to shift the focus of the people from the failures of the govt, people occupying constitutional posts are using a language that is against the Constitution of India and the spirit of democracy. People are no longer interested in tolerating such politics of the BJP and will vote them out in 2027 assembly elections to put an end to their politics of hate once and for all," Akhilesh said in a statement. The conduct of the BJP govt and its leaders has been discriminatory and undemocratic. The deprived, neglected and discriminated sections of the society will join hands under SP's PDA to vote the BJP out in 2027 state polls, Akhilesh said. The SP chief said in 9 years of govt the BJP has failed the farmers, unemployed youth and women. "Youth are unemployed because BJP has outsourced vacancies in govt and ended reservation. The BJP does not want the youth to talk about this. The farmers are the worst hit in the absence of proper supply of quality seeds, fertilizers and free power for irrigation of crops. BJP promised to double the income of farmers by 2022. BJP does not want people to talk about these issues," Akhilesh said. Senior SP functionary Sudhir Panwar took on the BJP for the kanwariya–Muharram jibe and questioned BJP govt's response towards news reports of kanwariyas resorting to violence. He also questioned BJP's charge that Muharram processions featured violence and arson till the present govt acted tough on such issues. SP functionaries alleged that the BJP leadership wanted to raise the dispute to drag the opposition into a "communal discourse". "The opposition in general and Samajwadi Party in particular will not play to the tunes of the BJP. We will not fall into this trap," said a senior party functionary.
Time of India
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Haridwar seers protest building of Kedareshwar temple by Akhilesh Yadav in UP's Etawah
Prominent seers here on Saturday opposed the alleged construction of a temple named Kedareshwar Dham on the lines of the Kedarnath shrine by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav at Uttar Pradesh's Etawah. Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad president Mahant Ravindrapuri said by building a temple in Etawah as a replica of the 12th Jyotirlinga situated in the Himalayas in Uttarakhand, Yadav has hatched a "big conspiracy" against Sanatan Dharma and to belittle the importance of the centuries old Himalayan temple. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Select a Course Category others Data Science Management MCA Others Project Management Finance Data Analytics healthcare Digital Marketing Operations Management Artificial Intelligence PGDM Leadership Healthcare CXO Cybersecurity Technology Degree Data Science Product Management Design Thinking MBA Public Policy Skills you'll gain: Duration: 16 Weeks Indian School of Business CERT - ISB Cybersecurity for Leaders Program India Starts on undefined Get Details Ravindrapuri is also the president of Mansa Devi Temple trust and Secretary of Panchayati Shri Niranjani Akhara. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Cardiologist: The Best Method for a Flat Stomach After 50 (It's Genius!) Lulutox Undo The Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad is with the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee and the priests on this issue and strongly condemns this act of Akhilesh Yadav, he said. Instead of replicating Kedarnath, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister should build another temple dedicated to lord Shiva, he said. Live Events Mahamandaleshwar Swami Lalitananda Giri also said that the construction of Kedareshwar temple in Etawah is wrong. A temple of Lord Shiva under any other name can be built anywhere but building a temple anywhere else in the name of the 12th Jyotirlinga is wrong, Giri said. Earlier, an attempt was made to build a temple on the lines of Kedarnath in Delhi but the idea was dropped after vehement protests from the priests of Kedarnath.
