Mahant Narendra Giri, chairperson of the All India Akhara Parishad, was a highly revered seer who was respected by the well-known as well as commoners.
His life mission was a movement against the caste system. He believed that castes had no place in the Sanatan Dharma, and their creation was a conspiracy to discredit it. This devotion to cleansing the ordained practices of Hinduism was so precious to him, that he had been a vocal critic and opponent of those religious figures who he thought were bringing discredit to it.
In May 2021, he had complained against Anand Giri—the disciple who is the chief suspect in his mysterious death—for being in constant touch with his family and thus disobeying the fundamental tenet of sanyaas or renunciation. It was also at that time that charges of financial irregularities were made against the disciple and found to be true.
As recently as June, Mahant Narendra Giri had called upon the leaders of all recognised monastic orders to stem religious conversions by ensuring that no Hindus feel oppressed or neglected. “Do not create the circumstances in which someone wants to change his religion,” he had said.
This was a far cry from the shuddhi (purity) argument given by hardline Hindu organisations, which seek to reconvert people to Hinduism.
The mahant would also criticise those seers who played the caste card.
He had, for instance, taken to task Kanahiya Prabhunand Giri of the Juna Akhara who had objected to not being invited for the Bhoomi Pujan of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya because he was a dalit. “A sadhu has no caste. After taking Sanyaas, all are equal. Such statements should not be made to stay in the media,” the mahant had said.
This opposition also extended to caste-based reservations, which he held to be detrimental to national development.
The mahant’s staunch opposition to the fissures in Indian society was not merely theoretical. On a visit to Ayodhya, upon hearing that Hashim Ansari, the chief litigant in the Ram Janmabhoomi title suit, was unwell, Narendra Giri went to visit him with a gift of fruits. He later said that he was there to seek Ansari’s blessings and came to him as a son.
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After the verdict of the Supreme Court, he had asked that the akharas also be represented in the trust constituted to oversee the construction of the Ram Mandir.
Some of the mahant’s views were radical. For instance, while espousing the cause of limiting the number of children born to a couple, he had said that the voting rights of people who had more than two children should be taken away, as should their rights to contest elections. They should also not be issued an Aadhaar number, he had suggested.
The seer’s popularity was evident in the number of tributes that poured in for him since his body was discovered on Monday evening.
