Adopting a stance of soft Hindutva, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav tendered his apologies to Shankaracharya Swami Swroopanand and his disciple Swami Avimukteshwaranand for the lathi-charge in Varanasi in 2015.
Akhilesh Yadav was then the chief minister of UP.
He met the religious leaders at Haridwar on Sunday and sought their blessings.
"I admit my mistake and I have apologised to the Shankaracharya and his disciple for the lathi-charge in Varanasi," Akhilesh Yadav said in Haridwar on Sunday after meeting the seer.
Akhilesh Yadav, after meeting the Shankaracharya at Kankhal Ashram in Haridwar, said, "I have come to meet Shankaracharya and seek his blessings as he inspired (me) in his recent statement in Mathura that farmers are in distress."
He said the Kumbh Mela was an ancient Indian tradition and religious leaders and the disciples were promoting the ancient tradition.
In 2015, police in Varanasi had lathi-charged protesters demanding the immersion of idols of Lord Ganesh in Ganga. In the lathi-charge Swami Avimukteshwaranand and several other religious leaders were injured. Swami Avimukteshwaranand was also arrested and sent to jail.
The SP president said that Mamata Banerjee would be the next chief minister of West Bengal.
He said Samajwadi Party leaders were camping in Bengal and campaigning for the victory of the Trinamool Congress candidates.
Yadav reiterated that for the 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Samajwadi Party would not enter into alliance with any big political party.
He slammed UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the poor handling of the second wave of novel coronavirus and said, "The common people are suffering while the chief minister is busy in political tourism and campaigning for West Bengal assembly elections."
