Islamophobic Remarks :
Hindu seer Acharya Rakesh Upadhayay is from the state of Chhattisgarh. He serves as the deputy president of Chattisgarh Sant Samiti (CSS), a state-level Hindu religious organization.
Upadhyay perfectly captures the image of the typical Hindu sadhu, dressed in saffron-colored clothing. His activities are not just restricted to Hindu rites and rituals, though. He frequently goes to demonstrations where calls for Muslim economic boycotts and extermination are made. He also organizes public gatherings and padayatras (foot marches) in support of a Hindu Rashtra (Nation) for India.
He frequently appears on stage with well-known genocide and hate preachers like Rajeev Lochan, Sadhvi Prachi, and Swami Avdheshananda Giri, who deliver inflammatory speeches and raise slogans that target Muslims and other minorities in India. These speakers include calls for a Hindu Rashtra, an exclusive state for Hindus.
Upadhayay was present in a meeting in October 2022 where it was decided that the CSS would provide identity cards to Hindu saints in Chattisgarh in order to protect the faith from the threat that the unnamed ‘outsiders’ pose.
The resolution was an additional attempt to reaffirm the frequently advanced myth that Hindu saints are good and innocent and that Muslims commit crimes while posing as sadhus to malign Hinduism.
Prior to the state’s assembly election in March 2023, Hindu saints from all over the state of Chattisgarh took part in a padayatra (foot march) in which they vehemently demanded that India be proclaimed a Hindu Rashtra (country). They also echoed anti-Muslim conspiracy theories and Islamophobic propaganda. The Hindu far-right organizations Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) as well as CSS, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and others coordinated the march.
“During the month-long padayatra, approximately 200 saints and sadhus (saints) visited villages in all of Chhattisgarh’s districts along the main roads and spread the message of Hindu pride,” said Upadhayay at the march’s conclusion in the state’s capital Raipur. They discussed the significance of Hindu Rashtra, asserting that it transcends all castes and that we are all first and foremost Hindus. To fight against conversion, we must band together.
His social media pages are flooded with images of protests and processions against Muslims.