Lucknow: Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, the 46th head or “Shankaracharya” of the Jyotirmath in Uttarakhand, is once again in the spotlight, this time over his allegations the Adityanath government prevented him from taking a holy dip at the Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj on Mauni Amavasya Sunday, an auspicious new moon day, and mistreated his associates.
Avimukteshwaranand was stopped by the police, reportedly because he was accompanied by a large group of followers, estimated at around 200–300, and did not have the necessary permission.
On Monday night, the Prayagraj administration issued him a notice, objecting to Avimukteshwaranand declaring and projecting himself as the “Shankaracharya of Jyotishpeeth” on a board installed at his camp during the Prayagraj Magh Mela.
Referring to a pending Supreme Court appeal, the notice said no religious leader has been officially consecrated as the Shankaracharya of Jyotishpeeth (or Shankaracharya of Jyotishpeeth).
On Tuesday, Avimukteshwaranand challenged the Adityanath government over the notice.
“Na Prashasan, na UP ka mukhyamantri, na desh ka rashtrapati tay karega kaun hai Shankaracharya. Ye Shankaracharya hin tay karenge ki kaun hai Jyotishpeeth ka Shankaracharya aur hum hain Shankaracharya. (Neither the Prayagraj administration, nor the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, nor even the President has the authority to decide who is a Shankaracharya. Only Shankaracharyas can decide that. No other body has this right. I am the unopposed Shankaracharya,” he said in a statement to the media.
He also blamed the Yogi administration for the chaos that occurred on Mauni Amavasya on Sunday. Following the police lathi-charge, Avimukteshwaranand gave up food and water, and began a sit-in outside his camp on Triveni Marg. His disciples also joined the protest.
This was not the first time Avimukteshwaranand has targeted a BJP-led government. Last year, following a stampede during the Kumbh, he held the Yogi government responsible. He had then said that if Yogi Adityanath continues as chief minister, such incidents would recur.
Before that, he did not attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya in 2024 despite being invited, and criticised the decision to go ahead with the ceremony at the half-built temple. He said inaugurating a half-built temple goes against the dharma, and stressed that religious leaders have an important role in a democratic country.
Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati addresses a press conference during the Magh Mela in Prayagraj on Tuesday. | ANI
His criticism has not been limited to the Uttar Pradesh government. In the past, he has also targeted the Narendra Modi-led Central government, alleging it has failed to take concrete steps for cow protection.
Because of his public criticism of BJP governments and his outspoken positions, critics on social media have branded him “anti-BJP.” However, this perception overlooks his past. Before entering spiritual life, Avimukteshwaranand was a student leader associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS.
Also Read: In spotlight over Ram temple event, the Shankaracharyas & their long tryst with politics
ABVP background & a pro-Modi stand
Born into a middle-class family in 1969 in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh, Swami Avimukteshwaranand’s original name is Umashankar Upadhyay. He received his primary education in Pratapgarh before moving to Gujarat for further studies.
During this period (between 1980-1986) in Gujarat, he came in contact with Brahmachari Ram Chaitanya, a disciple of Swami Karpatri Ji Maharaj, who had a keen interest in both religion and politics.
Encouraged by Ram Chaitanya, Umashankar Upadhyay deepened his engagement with Sanskrit studies. He later returned to Varanasi for higher studies. There, he pursued an in-depth study of Sanskrit grammar, the Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads, Ayurveda, and other religious texts.
He later earned his Shastri and Acharya degrees from the renowned Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi. Alongside his academic pursuits, he was also active in student politics and won the student union election in the university in 1994.
“Swami ji was an active member of the ABVP and contested student elections in 1994 with its support,” his close aide Shailendra told ThePrint. “Some people on social media circulate false claims suggesting he is pro-Congress or had past associations with the party. This is completely untrue. In fact, he was a committed ABVP activist and a staunch supporter of Narendra Modi. In 2014, he openly supported Modi’s candidacy for prime minister.”
Shailendra added that after Modi became prime minister, his government “failed” to take concrete steps towards cow protection, which he described as a core concern for the Shankaracharya.
On the contrary, Shailendra alleged that “beef exports increased significantly under the Modi government, a development that deeply angered Swami ji”.
He said the issue was raised repeatedly, but the government which often projects itself as a ‘Hinduon ki sarkaar’, did not act on it, Shailendra said.
‘Some people on social media circulate false claims suggesting he is pro-Congress or had past associations with party. This is completely untrue. In fact, he was a committed ABVP activist & a staunch supporter of Narendra Modi. In 2014, he openly supported Modi’s candidacy for prime ministership,’ says his aide.
Controversy on becoming Shankaracharya
After completing his education, Umashankar Upadhyay took sannyasa (renunciation) in the late 1990s, and took the name Avimukteshwaranand.
Avimukteshwaranand took diksha from Swami Swaroopanand in 2006. Ever since, he had been supervising all religious and other activities of the Uttarakhand-based Jyotirmath. After the death of Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati in 2022, Avimukteshwaranand was made the new Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath in Uttarakhand.
In 2022, the Supreme Court stopped his coronation as the new Shankaracharya of the Jyotirmath.
On 15 October, 2022 a bench comprising justices B.R. Gavai and B.V. Nagarathna passed the order after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the court that the Shankaracharya of Govardhan Math, Puri, Swami Nischalanad had filed an affidavit stating that the appointment of Avimukteshwaranand as the new Shankaracharya of Jyotish Peeth had not been approved.
Allowing the application, the bench observed, “This application is allowed in terms of the prayer clause.”
The Supreme Court was hearing the plea alleging that Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati had falsely claimed to have been appointed the successor Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath by the Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati.
The plea further alleged that there was a deliberate attempt to render the proceedings before the court infructuous, enabling an “unqualified and ineligible person to unauthorisedly assume the office”.
Avimukteshwaranand’s close aides claim that Hindu scholars believe that a Peeth can’t remain one without a Shankaracharya. So, Avimukteshwaranand continued as a Shankaracharya as he was the main disciple of Swaroopnand Saraswati and none of the other Shankaracharyas had any objection.
Criticism of BJP government
Avimukteshwaranand has drawn increased attention for repeatedly taking positions against the BJP government.
In September 2022, Avimukteshwaranand strongly opposed the demolition of several old temples for the construction of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi.
In 2023, he sparked a controversy by claiming that 228 kg of gold had gone missing from the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand, calling it a “gold scam”. He also opposed the construction of a replica of the Kedarnath temple in Delhi, saying the original temple belongs in the Himalayas.
Avimukteshwarnand also faced a police lathi-charge in Varanasi in 2016, when the Samajwadi Party was in power in the state, while protesting against a decision to stop idol immersion in the Ganga. The BJP had criticised the lathi-charge.
‘If we speak in his support, many within party will be unhappy because his remarks have been critical of BJP. But if we speak against him, it could be portrayed as being anti-Hindu, given that he is a Shankaracharya, one of highest religious authorities in Hinduism,’ says a BJP leader.
In June 2024, when the BJP attacked Rahul Gandhi for allegedly describing Hindus as violent in his maiden speech as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Avimukteshwaranand came to the Congress leader’s defence, arguing that his remarks were being misrepresented.
“We listened carefully to Rahul Gandhi’s full speech. He clearly stated that Hinduism does not endorse violence,” the saint told reporters at the time.
However, a year later, he excommunicated Rahul from Hinduism for allegedly “insulting” the ancient Sanskrit text, the Manusmriti.
Calling the Manusmriti the foundation of Sanatan Dharma, he claimed that Rahul Gandhi had made remarks in the Lok Sabha that amounted to an insult to the text.
But during the ongoing Prayagraj Magh Mela controversy, the Congress has come out in support of Swami Avimukteshwaranand, with party leader Pawan Khera alleging the Yogi Adityanath government targeted the Hindu seer as he had, on several occasions, criticised decisions of the BJP, including the consecration ceremony.
Another political leader to extend support was former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav who made social media posts in his favour, and also called him to convey his support in the matter.
International Hindu Parishad president Praveen Togadia also extended support to Avimukteshwaranand, invoking the slogan “Hindu batega toh katega.”
He said Shankaracharyas are revered by Hindus, just as the Gorakhnath Peeth is, and appealed to Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is also the peethadheeshwar of the Gorakhnath Peeth, to meet and resolve the issue amicably.
BJP leaders, meanwhile, have maintained a silence, refraining to make any public statements on Avimukteshwaranand or the controversy.
A senior Uttar Pradesh BJP leader told ThePrint that the party had decided to maintain silence on the issue.
“If we speak in his support, many within the party will be unhappy because his remarks have been critical of the BJP. But if we speak against him, it could be portrayed as being anti-Hindu, given that he is a Shankaracharya, one of the highest religious authorities in Hinduism,” the leader said.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
Also Read: Hinduism was losing relevance in 8th century. Shankaracharya revived it through Kumbh Mela