New Delhi

With a notice issued to Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati in Uttar Pradesh seeking an explanation how he was using the title of Shankaracharya, the Congress on Tuesday slammed the BJP and asked whether any government, chief minister or prime minister have any right to question the status of the Shankaracharya.

The opposition party also said those BJP people who used to ask Muslims - 'kaagaz dikhao' - are now telling the same to the top Hindu seer.

Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said that on the one hand, the new president of BJP is being chosen without any election while on the other hand, tears of seers are rolling down.

Amid the row over authorities "stopping" Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati from taking a holy dip in the Ganga in Prayagraj, the mela administration issued a notice asking him to explain how he was using the title of Shankaracharya of the Jyotish Peeth.

Trouble broke out on Sunday when Saraswati along with his supporters was on his way to take dip in the Sangam on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya and the police allegedly stopped him.

Following the incident, Saraswati sat in protest outside his camp, giving up food and water, and demanded an apology from senior officials of the mela administration and the police. The protest is still going on.

Addressing a press conference here, Khera said, "We cannot witness what is happening today in this country. For the last 48 hours, the greatest saint of the Hindu religion has been sitting on a dharna without eating anything, without drinking water."

Instead of going and apologising to him, they are trying to serve him a notice in the middle of the night, challenging the fact that he is a Shankaracharya, the Congress leader said.

"Does any government, any district magistrate, any police commissioner, any chief minister, any prime minister have any right to question the status of the Shankaracharya?

"This is against all traditions. What is happening is unprecedented. Every single Hindu across the world is watching what is happening in Uttar Pradesh. These people are sinners. They will never be forgiven," Khera said.

"What kind of atrocities we have been witnessing in Uttar Pradesh over the last 48 hours - can any 'math-wala sant' (saint from a monastery) ever do such things? Saints are 'math-wale (from monasteries), not lath-wale (stick-wielders)," the Congress leader said.

"When Prime Minister Modi bowed his head before Avimukteshwaranand ji - till then he was a Shankaracharya. As long as Avimukteshwaranand ji did not question the government about cow meat – till then he was a Shankaracharya. As long as Avimukteshwaranand ji did not oppose the pran pratishtha of the half-built temple, till then he was a Shankaracharya. As long as Avimukteshwaranand ji did not question the mismanagement of the Maha Kumbh, till then he was a Shankaracharya," Khera said.

"But now he is no longer a Shankaracharya because he did not bow his head before the king, and that is why Ajay Singh Bisht is demanding papers from him today," he said.

The notice sent by Ajay Singh Bisht is a violation of the law, he said, slamming the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.

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"Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Ji had criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government ...The result was this-Shankaracharya Ji was barred from taking the 'shahi snan', due to which he has been sitting on a dharna without food or water for the past 48 hours. Instead of apologizing, the Uttar Pradesh government sent him a notice," he said.

"This is called the height of arrogance. These shameless BJP people who ask Muslims - 'kaagaz dikhao' - are now telling the same to Hindus' top saint," Khera said.