Tensions boiled over at Prayagraj’s iconic Sangam Ghat during Magh Mela, where Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati’s confrontation with organizers has exposed fault lines in Hindu leadership. Eminent saints Swami Jitendra Saraswati of Ujjain and Mahamandaleshwar Gyan Das of Varanasi weighed in, decrying the episode’s potential to erode communal solidarity.
Gyan Das Maharaj slammed the authorities’ roughshod approach to young volunteers, deeming it a ‘tragic assault on Sanatan values’ that breeds discord. ‘Punish the errant to reunify our people,’ he insisted, stressing the urgency of resolution to safeguard dharma’s unity.
Varanasi’s Swami Jitendra Saraswati defended the protocols, referencing past bathuk overreaches on law enforcers. Barricades, he noted, are standard for royal immersions, stationing processional vehicles 2 km distant to preserve the purity of the snan area.
He lambasted the ‘arrogant’ stance against walking 50 meters, quipping, ‘Before Ganga, a true son discards ego—why not here?’ Probing deeper, he invalidated the self-proclaimed Shankaracharya status post-Swaroopanand’s demise, citing absent witnesses and Supreme Court injunctions on displays. Suspecting political orchestration by Congress and socialists, he called for collective vigilance to protect holy traditions from external meddling.