Lucknow, March 12: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav met with Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, in Lucknow on Thursday. During the meeting, he sought blessings and spiritual guidance from the revered leader.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Yadav expressed his intention to pay tribute to the Shankaracharya and gain wisdom from him. “I have just returned from meeting the revered Shankaracharya. Now that he is in the capital, we all wanted to seek his blessings. We came here to learn from him and gain some knowledge and guidance,” he stated.
Yadav also commented on the growing influence of social media in shaping public debate. He noted, “In today’s time, social media is so widespread that everyone feels free to express their opinions. There is always someone trying to bring a political angle to everything. But I came here to seek blessings from the Shankaracharya.”
He emphasized the importance of blessings from sages when starting good or progressive initiatives. “Whenever we begin a good or forward-looking endeavor, it is invaluable to receive blessings from sages and saints. The biggest benefit of seeking blessings from the Shankaracharya is that it helps end the influence of fake saints,” he added.
Yadav also discussed the initiatives taken by the Samajwadi Party government for the welfare of cows, stating that the party has launched several initiatives and will continue efforts related to cow protection and service in the future. “As I have mentioned before, the first cow milk plant in Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh was actually established in Kannauj,” he remarked.
Criticizing the current government, he alleged that the dairy facility in Kannauj has been shut down. “This government is against not just the common people but every good initiative. The cow milk plant established in Kannauj was also shut down due to government collusion. It was a modern plant, equipped with tetra packaging and made entirely of stainless steel,” he claimed.
Meanwhile, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati confirmed that Yadav met him for a short while, discussing spiritual matters and reminiscing about the late Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. The spiritual leader stated, “Akhilesh Yadav came to pay tribute. We discussed some aspects of satsang and shared old memories of Mulayam Singh Yadav. After that, he left.”
This meeting comes as the Shankaracharya announced an 81-day statewide march in Uttar Pradesh for cow protection. The campaign, named ‘Kavisti Yatra’, will begin on May 3 from Gorakhpur and will cover approximately 1.08 lakh villages across the state, concluding on July 23. The march aims to raise awareness about cow protection and demands recognition of the cow as ‘Rashtra Mata’ (National Mother), along with a nationwide ban on cow slaughter.