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Claim
This video of lathicharge on Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand is recent.
Fact check
Boom found that the viral claim is wrong. This incident of lathicharge on Shankaracharya is of 2015. Then there was a Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh.
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On social media, the video of the police lathicharge on Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand is going viral. While sharing this, users are targeting the Yogi government. Boom found in the fact check that this video of Shankaracharya is of the year 2015. Then after a dispute over Ganesh immersion in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, the police had lathi on several sadhus including Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand. At that time there was a Samajwadi Party government in the state.
Significantly, due to the vocal statements made on the Mahakumbh stampede, Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand is very much discussed these days. He has blamed the Yogi government for the poor system of Mahakumbh and demanded his resignation. Meanwhile, users are sharing this old video on social media, in which the police is seen hitting Avimukteshwaranand with sticks. Posting it on X, a user tagged Union Minister Amit Shah and wrote, ‘It is very shameful to get lathi -charged on Shankaracharya ji, it is less condemned.’ The user also targeted Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath demanding action against the policemen who further lathi -charged.
Archive link to the post. This video on Facebook is also viral with the claim of recent lathicharge.
This incident of lathicharge on Shankaracharya is in 2015
On searching news related to the lathicharge incident on Shankaracharya, we received many news reports of the year 2015, not recently. In a report by Prabhat Khabar on 23 September 2015, it was told that there was a clash between saints and police for immersing the idol of Ganesh in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Many sadhus including Swami Avimukteshwaranand were injured in the police lathicharge. A picture of Avimukteshwaranand is also present in this report. Taking hints from here, we searched for a video of the incident on YouTube through the concerned keywords. We found its visuals in the video report related to the incident of 23 September 2015. The report of First India News told that this dispute started over the immersion of Ganesh statue in the Ganges river. During this time people also pelted police stones.
What was the whole matter
According to the report of India TV, the administration had banned Ganpati immersion in the Ganges river citing an order of Allahabad High Court in Varanasi. Then many saints, including Avimukteshwarananda, a disciple of Dwarka Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand, sat on a dharna demanding immersion of idols, including a member of the Maratha Ganeshotsav Samiti. After this, the police used force on late night of 22 September 2015 to remove them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezghimhjcak
A statement by Yogi Adityanath is also present in the ABP News video report, in which he is seen targeting the then Uttar Pradesh government, criticizing this lathicharge. In all these reports, visuals similar to Shankaracharya’s viral video can be seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RASQOS1IW0
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was at the time of the incident. In the year 2021, Akhilesh apologized to Avimukteshwaranand and saints for this lathicharge. It is clear that Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand is being shared as a video of lathicharge during the SP’s reign.
[डिस्क्लेमर: यह रिपोर्ट Shakti Collective के पार्ट के तहत पहले BOOM पर छपी थी. एबीपी लाइव हिंदी ने हेडलाइन के अलावा रिपोर्ट में कोई बदलाव नहीं किया है.]