Akhilesh Yadav Slams BJP Over its Claims of Namaz Offered on Steps of Ayodhya's Hanumangarhi Temple

Apparently referring to an incident from 2003, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath had alleged that “they had tried to hold namaaz” at the stairs of the Hanumangarhi Temple in Ayodhya.

The Wire Staff

Apparently referring to an incident from 2003, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath had alleged that “they had tried to hold namaaz” at the stairs of the Hanumangarhi Temple in Ayodhya.

akhilesh yadav slams bjp over its claims of namaz offered on steps of ayodhya s hanumangarhi temple

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav addresses a press conference at the party office in Lucknow on October 18, 2025. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday (July17) slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Uttar Pradesh government for what he termed as spreading lies with the claim that namaz was offered at the Hanumangarhi temple.

Yadav shared a video of the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati on X, wherein the latter emphatically denies that contrary to the BJP’s claim, namaz was never offered on the stairs of the Hanumangarhi temple in Ayodhya.

“When was namaz offered at the Hanumangarhi temple? Prove it! This is a lie, a complete lie, when was namaz offered on the steps of Hanumangarhi temple? Namaz was never offered on the steps of the temple,” Avimukteshwaranand says in the video.

पूज्य शंकराचार्य जी की बात का हम 100% समर्थन करते हैं।
अधर्मी भाजपाइयों और उनके संगी-साथियों ने पहले अयोध्या को लूटकर बर्बाद किया अब झूठ प्रसारित करके बदनाम कर रहे हैं। इससे अयोध्या का संत-महंत समाज बेहद आहत और आक्रोशित है। अयोध्यावासियों को लग रहा है कि ये महापापी भाजपाई… pic.twitter.com/URDpP8XWc2
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 17, 2026

Earlier, The Wire had reported that apparently referring to an incident from 2003, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath had alleged that “they had tried to hold namaaz” at the stairs of the Hanumangarhi Temple in Ayodhya.

“Imagine, can anyone do Hanuman Chalisa paath at the Jama Masjid? Can any government allow it ? Can SP-Congress allow it? If they cannot, then why did they commit this sin of namaaz on the stairs of the Hanumangarhi?” the chief minister had said.

Yadav lambasted the BJP after citing Avimukteshwaranand’s statement.

“We 100% support the words of revered Shankaracharya. The unrighteous BJP members and their allies first looted and destroyed Ayodhya and are now defaming it by spreading lies. This has deeply hurt and angered the community of saints and mahants of Ayodhya,” Yadav wrote on X.

The Wire’s earlier report had highlighted that after being pushed onto the backfoot by the scandalous pilferage of donation money at the Ram Mandir, the ruling BJP has dusted off its favorite textbook for poll-bound Uttar Pradesh: escalating communal rhetoric and projecting its rivals as pro-Muslim.

This article went live on July eighteenth, two thousand twenty six, at twenty-four minutes past six in the evening.

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