'Leaving with heavy heart': Swami Avimuktshwaranad ends sit-in protest at Magh Mela; Akhilesh says BJP 'blinded by power'

NEW DELHI: Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati on Wednesday ended his sit-in protest and departed the Magh Mela in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, 10 days after he was "stopped" from taking a holy dip at the Sangam.Before leaving, he said he was returning with a “sense of emptiness” and a “heavy heart.”“Today, words are not supporting me, and my voice feels heavy. We come to this sacred land of Prayagraj seeking spiritual peace, but today we are returning with a sense of emptiness and a heavy heart that we had never imagined,” the seer told reporters, PTI reported.“Taking a dip in the Sangam is a path to the satisfaction of the inner soul, but my mind is so distressed today that I am leaving without taking a bath,” he added.Commenting on the developments at Prayagraj, Avimukteshwaranand remarked they had “shaken my inner self” and prompted him to raise questions about “collective faith in justice and humanity.”On January 18, Swami Avimukteshwaranand was travelling in a palanquin to the Sangam—the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati—on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya when a dispute erupted after administrative and police officials asked him to dismount and proceed on foot for the ritual bath, citing heavy crowds. The Mela administration alleged that the seer and his supporters broke a barricade on a pontoon bridge and moved towards the ghats, creating serious challenges for the police in crowd management.Following the incident, allegations were exchanged between Avimukteshwaranand and the police administration, after which he launched a sit-in protest.Akhilesh attacks BJP, UP govtSamajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav attacked the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government following the seer’s announcement, calling his departure from the Magh Mela without bathing in the Sangam an “extremely ominous” incident.“The BJP's arrogance broke a tradition that has continued since time immemorial. Jagadguru Shankaracharya ji leaving the Magh Mela on the sacred land of Prayagraj without taking a holy bath is an extremely ominous incident,” Yadav wrote on X. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister stated that the entire Sanatan community was not only hurt but also gripped by fear. “The global Sanatan society is deeply pained and filled with an uncertain sense of apprehension,” he posted.Yadav alleged that the ruling party could have acted differently but was “blinded by power”.“If the BJP and its associates wanted, they could have shed the arrogance of power, carried him on their shoulders and ensured his sacred bath at the Triveni Sangam, thereby upholding his honour. The BJP is intoxicated with the pride of power acquired through corrupt means, which is stopping it from doing so,” the SP president added.He said hurting saints could never bring well-being. “No one can attain happiness by hurting the hearts of saints. A bigger mistake than committing an error is not seeking forgiveness,” Yadav said, adding that “no political post can be greater than the honour of saints”.Invoking religious texts, he warned of consequences over the developments involving the seer. “Do those who create obstacles in religious rituals need to be told what they are called? Our epics clearly state that no wrongdoer ever escapes the punishment of arrogance,” he said.Yadav concluded his post with the message: “Hurt saints mean the end of power.”