Shankaracharya says Uddhav Thackeray ‘victim of betrayal’: ‘…till he becomes CM again’
Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the Jyotish Peeth, on Monday said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray is a victim of betrayal.
The Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, met Shiv Sena UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday at his residence, Matoshree, in Mumbai.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the Shankaracharya expressed his solidarity with Thackeray, who was forced to resign as Maharashtra chief minister after senior Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde engineered a vertical split in the party.
“All of us are followers of Sanatana Dharma. We have a definition of 'Paap' and 'Punya'. 'Vishwasghat' (Betrayal) is said to be one of the biggest sin, same has happened to Uddhav Thackeray,” Swami Avimukteshwaranand said.
“I told him (Uddhav Thackeray) that all of us were pained by the betrayal he had to face. Our pain will not go till he again becomes the chief minister of Maharashtra,” he added.
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Following Thackeray's resignation in June 2022, Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the Maharashtra CM after joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party. In February 2023, the Election Commission of India recognised the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena.
Without directly naming any individual, Swami Avimukteshwaranand made a pointed observation about the nature of deceit.
"A person who commits deceit cannot be a Hindu. The one who bears it is a Hindu," he said.
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This comment, while indirect, was a clear reference to the political machinations that led to the destabilisation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray.
“The entire populace of Maharashtra is anguished by the betrayal and this was reflected in the recent (Lok Sabha) elections," he said. “We don’t have anything to do with politics, but we are talking about betrayal which is a sin as per religion," he added.
On the laying of a foundation stone of a Kedarnath temple in New Delhi on July 10 by Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the seer said, “When the address for Kedarnath is in the Himalayas, how can it be in Delhi? Why are you confusing the people?”
The Shankaracharya also attended a puja ceremony at Matoshree bungalow.
He had turned down the invitation to the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya.
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