Prayagraj: Workers of the City and District Congress Committee, Yamuna Par staged a protest at the District Collectorate against the alleged filing of a fake FIR by the Uttar Pradesh Government against Swami Avimukteshwaranand, his disciple Mukundanand and others on charges of sexual exploitation. The Congress workers termed it a grave insult to Hindutva and Sanatan. Under the leadership of City President Fuzail Hashmi, party members reached the Collectorate in the afternoon, raising slogans against the government. Addressing the gathering, speakers alleged that in a government which claims to uphold Hindutva and Sanatan, for the first time such serious and disgraceful allegations have been levelled against a Shankaracharya. They said that while one Deputy Chief Minister talks about giving full respect and honor to the Shankaracharya, another Deputy Chief Minister condemns police action against batuks, which reflects the dual attitude of the government.
Alleging that the Shankaracharya is being unnecessarily harassed and persecuted, the speakers said that a disciple of Rambhadracharya, who is allegedly a history-sheeter and against whom 27 criminal cases are registered under serious sections including murder, land grabbing, kidnapping and rape, namely Ashutosh Brahmachari, has lodged a false case against the aforesaid Shankaracharya and others at Jhunsi police station. The Congress members submitted a memorandum addressed to the PM Narendra Modi to the ADM City, demanding a transparent inquiry into the entire matter and withdrawal of the registered cases so that the truth behind the alleged false accusations and conspiracy can be exposed.
Yamuna Par President Ashok Patel, Kishore Varshney, Harikesh Tripathi, Vijay Mishra, Parvez Siddiqui, Anoop Tripathi, Sushmita Yadav, Sushil Tiwari, Manju Sant, Sandeep Sharma, Vinay Dubey, Shahzad-ul-Haq, Manas Shukla, Shahnawaz Qureshi, Avneesh Kol, Raju Patel, Pratima Tripathi, Avinash Verma, Madhavi Rai, Nagendra Mishra, Dr. Radheshyam Yadav, Kameshwar Sonkar, Sita Yadav, Rizwana Begum, Nasreen Bano, Jaiprakash Singh, Kamaal Ali, Jitendra Rai, Sartaj Mohammad, Rajaram Patel, Brijendra Singh, Gulfan Khan, Vishal Sonkar and others were present during the protest.
