Akhilesh Yadav & Muslim leaders visit temple wearing shoes; Hindus purify it

This came after several videos surfaced on social media in which several Hindu youths were seen cleaning the temple.

BJP also reacted to this development. Shivendra Kumar Gwal, the BJP city president, mentioned that there was no issue with Akhilesh's visit; he regarded him as an "electoral Hindu." However, he noted that some Muslims and other party members accompanying Akhilesh entered the temple wearing shoes and purportedly spat inside. Gwal added that there is a signboard outside the temple explicitly stating that entry is restricted for non-Sanatanis.

Speaking to the media the youths who cleaned the temple said, “We have cleaned the temple as Akhilesh Yadav came here today. Firstly, he has no sense of how pooja-paath [worship] is performed. Even though it is clearly written on a board outside the temple that non-Sanatanis are not allowed inside the temple, he [Akhilesh] came here with Muslims. And the Gaur Shankar Mandir has been cleaned, Akhilesh Yadav too will be cleaned from Kannauj [in the elections].”


Amidst this, Samajwadi Party leaders tried to stir a caste discrimination controversy. SP leader IP Singh addressed the matter in a post on X, "Honorable National President, Akhilesh Yadav belongs to the backward class, hence BJP got the temple premises washed with 'Gangajal,' before that it had got the CM residence washed. The BJP believes that backward, Dalit, deprived and exploited people have no right to worship in Hindu temples. This time these PDA, backward, Dalit, deprived and exploited people together will show BJP the way out of power."