Akhilesh Yadav, chief of the Samajwadi Party, on Thursday met Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, in Lucknow to seek blessings and spiritual guidance. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Yadav said he had come to pay his respects and gain knowledge from the revered seer.
“I have just returned from meeting the revered Shankaracharya. And now that he has come to Lucknow, the capital, we all wished to seek his blessings. We came here to receive his blessings, learn from him, and gain some knowledge and guidance,” he said.
The SP chief also commented on the growing influence of social media in shaping public debate, saying that people increasingly express opinions freely online, often leading to attempts to politicise every event. “In today’s time, social media is so widespread that everyone feels free to express their views.
There is always someone trying to bring a political angle into everything. But I came here to seek blessings from Shankaracharya,” Yadav said. He added that blessings from sages hold great importance when beginning good or progressive initiatives.
“Whenever we start any good or progressive work, receiving blessings from seers and sages is invaluable. The greatest benefit of receiving blessings from the respected Shankaracharya is that it signals the end of fake saints,” he remarked.
Yadav also spoke about steps taken during the Samajwadi Party government for cow welfare, stating that the party had launched several initiatives and would continue efforts related to cow protection and service in the future. “As I have mentioned several times earlier, the first cow milk plant in Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh was actually set up in Kannauj,” he said.
Criticising the current government, Yadav alleged that the dairy facility in Kannauj had been shut down. “But this government is not only against ordinary people, it is against every good initiative as well. The cow milk plant that was built in Kannauj was also shut down with the involvement of the government.
And it was such a modern plant it had tetra packing and was made entirely of stainless steel,” he said. Meanwhile, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati confirmed that Yadav had visited him briefly and that their conversation included spiritual discussions and recollections about the late SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.
“Akhilesh Yadav came to pay his respects. There was some discussion on satsang, and a few old memories of Mulayam Singh Yadav also came up for discussion. After that, he left,” the spiritual leader said. The meeting took place in the midst of the Shankaracharya’s announcement of an 81-day statewide march for cow protection in Uttar Pradesh.
The campaign, titled ‘Kavishti Yatra’, will begin on May 3 from Gorakhpur and conclude on July 23 after travelling through around 1.08 lakh villages across the state. The march seeks to raise awareness about cow protection and demand that the cow be recognised as ‘Rashtra Mata’ (national mother), along with a nationwide ban on cow slaughter.