By Admin 
Shankaracharya of Jyotish Peeth, Swami Avimukteshwaranand, who was on strike over the incident that took place on the day of Mauni Amavasya in the Magh Mela in Prayagraj, talked about this entire matter in a press conference on Monday (January 19, 2026). Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwarananda Saraswati said in the press conference regarding the controversy on the festival of Mauni Amavasya that most of the people are not able to understand why this happened? How can the fair administration, under the government of a saint or a saint, misbehave with children and saints in such a manner?
Swami Avimukteshwarananda Saraswati said that the first allegation is that if the barricade was broken then the CCTV footage should be made public. We had left our camp for a bath with the local police administration. The police had said that we have been deputed to take a bath. He accompanied us from the ashram to the Sangam bank, where he negotiated with the barricaded police and got the barricade opened. If our people were being unruly then why did no one come and tell us, we have always followed the rules and will do so in future also.
He said that now will any saint or saint Sanatani have to take permission to take bath in the Ganga? There is no question of permission in this. Does any child take permission to meet his mother Ganga? People come here to atone for their sins and get the benefit of virtue but Shankaracharya does not have such intention. Lakhs and crores of people come here to see our dip. We inform about our movements so that there is no chaos. The information that was to be given from our camp was given, the complete program is being written and given 3 days in advance.
Even today Shankaracharya’s palanquin goes to our Badrinath – Shankaracharya
Shankaracharya said whether they are considering this information as permission, we will not take Ganga bath with permission. He said that if we take out the history of the entire Magh Mela, Shankaracharya has always gone to take bath in a palanquin. Even today Shankaracharya’s palanquin goes to our Badrinath and even when the doors are closed, the palanquin comes down. It has been our tradition to go to Kumbh Mela or Magh Mela in a palanquin, for the last 2 Magh Melas we have been going ourselves.
He said that he went till Sangam while performing a feat for some saint, we have no opposition to him, have there been two types of saints? One who flatters and the other who does not flatter. The administration of this fair should be changed, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati has made a big allegation that we would have died tomorrow. We cannot forget what we saw from the palanquin from 9.47 am to 5 pm. After taking us out of the palanquin, their soldiers would push and stampede and we would be killed. The stampede happened in the Kumbh Mela because the officials of the fair administration started chasing away the sleeping people and started beating them with sticks.
Shankaracharya said that a stampede is organized in the fair, first we were stopped, then our Dandi Sanyasi was taken away and he was beaten. First he was dragged by his hair and hit with shoes, the old man was hit with shoes. He said that perhaps even Ravana would have shown mercy but our saint who had come from Nepal was caught and killed by the top of his head. Shankaracharya showed a scarf stained with Batuk’s blood and explained how the fight took place. He said that the administration wants that the third battle of Panipat took place in 1762, in that war, when Vishwas Rao saw his nephew surrounded, he jumped from the elephant, the army thought that our commander was killed and due to which Ahmed Shah Abdali won the war. In the same way, these people wanted to do such an incident by taking me out of the palanquin.
Swami Avimukteshwaranand has been traveling through the same route in a palanquin for the last two years.
He said that if I had remained away from the public eye, the enemies would have succeeded in their conspiracy. He said that we are not fond of palanquin, whenever the Prime Minister comes, he is made to sit in an elevated car so that the public gets satisfied after seeing him from a distance. In this entire Magh Mela, I am going on foot to every sadhu for cow protection. Even when Shankaracharya passed away three years ago, he continued to go like this. Normally, when we went on foot, there used to be a rush of people and chaos, hence for the last two years we have been going by palanquin on this same route.
He went to Magh Mela in a palanquin like this, then who complained that there was any chaos or stampede. If someone tries to tarnish our traditions behind our backs, it will not be tolerated. We are not sitting here willingly, the administration took our people aside and then the soldiers who came in plain uniform with pistols in their waists took us away. In the last 25 years, ever since I became a Sanyasi, I have never been alone, yesterday was the first time when I was not with my people. We were taken near the fort, the public came after seeing us, we did not tell anyone that they were misbehaving. If they had done so, the public could have been angry, they have kept the palanquin just as they left us.
We are not sitting on any hunger strike or dharna – Swami Avimukteshwaranand
He said that we remained sitting till 1 o’clock in the night till the date of Amavasya, we are not sitting on any fast or on any dharna. We will remain like this in the Magh Mela till Maghi Purnima and then come to the Magh Mela but will enter the camp only when the administration takes a bath in the Ganga. Our stand is that we will enter our camp only when the bathing protocol for all the four Shankaracharyas and Vaishnavacharya is not determined. Yesterday we had temporarily thought that we will go back but our senior Guru Bhai, Shankaracharya of Dwarka Peeth, Swami Sadanand Saraswati had called, he said that we should not leave the fair like this. The government certainly wants that religious events will be commercialized.
Shankaracharya said that on March 11, there will be a big saints conference in Delhi for cow protection, the saints will make them realize their power. This happened because we talk about cow protection. While BJP governments are taking donations from those who kill mother cows, BJP governments are not able to protect cows.
Hindu is a coward who does not go out on killing mother cow – Shankaracharya
He said that Yogi is a man who destroys temples, we went to every street of Kashi and went out for 40 days to save the temples. Never more than 100 Hindus came with us in 40 days. A bulldozer was doing encroachment work at night near Gyanvapi, when 3 bricks of Gyanvapi fell, 10 thousand Muslims gathered, blessed is the Muslim who comes out to protect his religion. Hindu is a coward who does not go out on killing mother cow.
When the Chief Minister can lie then why shouldn’t this Commissioner lie?
Showing the photograph of Prayagraj Divisional Commissioner Soumya Aggarwal, Shankaracharya said, if she had wanted, she could have handled this situation yesterday. They have given lies and misleading information to the media. Why shouldn’t he lie? When the Chief Minister can lie then why shouldn’t this Commissioner lie? Shankaracharya showed the picture of Home Secretary IPS Mohit Gupta. Said that he himself was in plain uniform, he looked the most handsome. I saw this Home Secretary himself beating the children with his own hands, yesterday too there was someone who was watching all this.
Police Commissioner Prayagraj is very stubborn and evil
Showing the picture of Mohit Gupta, he said, is he a police officer or a goon. Showing the picture of Prayagraj Police Commissioner Joginder Kumar, he said that he is very stubborn and evil. He had said that I had got very hot, I will take it off now. He said that the police commissioner stopped our chariot in the middle of the road, when I asked him to take it to the side, he said that the police’s shoulder is not for this, so he sent us from the police’s shoulder.
DM told wrong and untrue things in the press
Showing the picture of DM Manish Kumar Verma, he said that DM is a responsible post, he himself was there there. Should they have allowed such a situation to arise, if it was said from above then ok you are obedient. The DM told wrong and untrue things in the press, showed the picture of a CM and said that his name is Vineet Singh. This is the villain of the film, he was taking everyone inside and beating and abusing them. He kicked, he snatched the stick of our celibate and hit him.
Inspector sub inspector constable below was saddened by yesterday’s incident – Shankaracharya
CO Vineet Singh said that we are disciples of Shankaracharya of Puri, he is trying to create a difference between us and Shankaracharya of Puri. Medical reports of all the injured are ready. All this was being done by high ranking officers, the inspector and inspector constable below were saddened by yesterday’s incident. The administration had detained a total of 35 people, 12 people have been given medical treatment and 3 people are still admitted. Our Math has a legal cell that will decide what to do next, possibly a petition will be filed in the High Court. If we are committing any crime then we have the right to take action.
He said that when my people were being caught, why was I caught, why did I not take action, everything was happening under my leadership. People continued to tolerate injustice with us for 5/7 hours, CO Vineet Singh who had come asked us to get down. What chaos happened there during the 3 hours?
The Prime Minister or Chief Minister of the country will not decide whether we are Shankaracharya or not.
On the controversy regarding his holding the post of Shankaracharya on Jyotish Peeth, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati said that it will not be decided by the Prime Minister, President or Chief Minister of the country whether we are Shankaracharya or not. I have received the approval of two Shankaracharyas, Dwarka Peeth and Sringeri Math and the third one is the tacit approval of the Shankaracharya of Govardhan Peeth, Puri. He said that we gave full opportunity to rectify the mistake that if the administration comes, we can take bath but no one from the administration came. Had the administration come and got us bathed on Mauni Amavasya, nothing would have happened, we would not have supported this.
He will remain sitting on the palanquin like this till Maghi Purnima.
At present, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati has said that he will remain sitting on the palanquin like this till Maghi Purnima. They say that their protest will continue until the administration corrects its mistake.