New Delhi: A show cause notice has been issued to Akhadas, a group of three organizations of Hindu religious leaders to over a hundred ‘godmen’ under them, for identifying as gods.
One of the sects whose godmen have been served the notice is the original litigant in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title case – the Nirmohi Akhada. There are 13 Akhadas in total, with Nirmohi being one of the most influential.
In 2020, the Nirmohi Akhada national spokesperson Mahant Sitaram Das stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not lay the foundation stone of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on August 5, 2020, as he is a “raja” (head) and not a “dharmacharya” (religious person).
The Akhada also claimed that the Ayodhya temple consecration ceremony on January 22 did not follow ‘Ramanandi’ traditions. Ravindra Puri Maharaj, the head of the umbrella organization Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad, recently stated in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, that seers should not be allowed to identify as gods such as Ram, Vishnu, and Brahma.
Deccan Chronicle reported that Ravindra described such claims by seers as “anti-Sanatan” and said that it would keep ‘godmen’ off the 2028 Mahakumbh at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh.
Ravindra stated that three of the 13 Akhadas – Juna, Sri Niranjani, and Nirmohi – have issued show cause notices to 112 seers for making such utterances.
The report quoted Ravindra as saying that if the seers do not reply to the notices by September 30, they will be barred from the Prayagraj Mahakumbh. This news follows a stampede in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras during and immediately after an event held by self-styled godman Narayan Sakaar Hari alias Bhole Baba, where devotees believed in his supposed magical abilities.