Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has been in a race to prove himself a Shiva devotee for the last few days. He is constructing a grand Kedareshwar Mahadev temple in Etawah. Not only this, Akhilesh Yadav, who used to whip restrictions on Kanwariyas in his governments, has suddenly started demanding for some time to make a ‘Special Corridor’ for Kanwariyas. This is the new ‘soft Hindutva’ of Samajwadi Party, which has arisen out of political compulsion.
myself on the other side Shiva devotee Akhilesh Yadav and his leaders have always publicly insulted Kanwariyas by calling them ‘illiterate’, ‘unemployed’ and ‘haters’.
The insult to Kanwariyas cannot be forgotten
Samajwadi Party’s politics has always been based on appeasement. SP leaders had spewed venom during the Kanwar Yatra in July 2025. Party chief Akhilesh Yadav himself had publicly insulted Shiva devotees by making fun of the administrative arrangements.
Akhilesh Yadav had taunted the Kanwar Yatra in a very sarcastic tone and said that if the government has to serve the Kanwariyas, then officers like CO and SDM should be deployed in their service and they should make them press the feet of the Kanwariyas.
His statement was that unless the youth get employment, they will continue to participate in such activities and this is a symbol of the failure of the government.
Not only this, SP spokesperson Rajkumar Bhati had openly termed the Kanwar tradition as wrong and said that the Kanwar Yatra diverts children from education and development.
The limit was crossed when former MP ST Hasan directly compared the transparent government order revealing the identity of shopkeepers on Kanwar Marg with incidents like terrorism and Pahalgam.
Yogi government’s ‘Meerut model’
SP leaders may consider Kanwadis sitting in air-conditioned rooms as ‘illiterate and unemployed’, but the Yogi government of UP gives full respect to faith.
The government is working successfully to make the Kanwar tradition well-organized, easy and hassle-free. Today ‘Meerut Model’ is applicable for Shiva devotees in UP. The 969 km long Kanwar route in the Meerut range, the main center of western UP, has been completely made safe for Shiva devotees. To ensure water safety, 157 boats and 139 trained divers have been kept ready along the banks of rivers and canals. 128 barriers have been installed for security and 4 new temporary police stations have also been created for crowd management.
Ghaziabad is already the busiest transit route for lakhs of Kanwariyas. In such a situation, while during the SP rule, Kanwariyas were often victims of accidents due to dilapidated wires, today the Yogi government has protected about 90,000 electric poles in Ghaziabad with PVC covers and all the transformers have been completely covered.
About 300 Kanwar camps have been set up in the district for the relaxation of Shiva devotees. For emergencies, 65 ambulances are deployed round the clock on the route and more than 250 beds have been reserved in hospitals.
Amidst all this, a 14-point action plan has been strictly implemented at the state level. There are clear standards set for DJs of 10 feet height and 12 feet width.
To maintain the sanctity of the Kanwar Yatra route, sale of meat and liquor is completely banned and no pseudonymous vendor will be allowed to operate near the route.
Digital mapping from Google Maps, ‘Zero Plastic’ campaign and transparent nameplate policy are implemented. Not only this, 24×7 live monitoring is being done through drones and command control center. Obviously, these steps have put an end to the ‘zero tolerance policy’ of the Yogi government of not tolerating any kind of disturbance during the Kanwar Yatra in the state.
From Nath Corridor to Kashi Vishwanath
There is no doubt that at present all this is happening in Uttar Pradesh because there is a double engine government which is continuously giving new dimensions to ‘heritage and development’. The politics of this government is not focused on empty rhetoric like the SP leaders, but on concrete results.
Bareilly is called ‘Nath city’, where on the lines of Kashi and Ayodhya, the construction of a grand ‘Nath Corridor’ at a cost of about ₹ 60 crore is going on at a fast pace. Under this, Alakhnath, Trivati Nath, Vankhandi Nath and Dhopeshwar Nath temples are being renovated. Modern facilities like Vedic library and open theater are also being added there.
What could be a greater example of good governance and cultural coordination than the fact that the dates of Kanwar Yatra in Bareilly and ‘Urs-e-Razvi’ of the world famous Ala Hazrat Dargah were coming together. But, with full sensitivity and mutual consent, the administration got the dates of Urs changed (6, 7 and 8 August). With this, law and order and communal harmony of the city will be completely maintained.
Not only this, since the construction of a grand corridor in Kashi Vishwanath Dham, a huge crowd of Shiva devotees is creating new records of darshan in Kashi every Sawan. Crores of visitors are having easy darshan of Baba Vishwanath without any inconvenience.
Leave a Reply