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New Delhi: Controversial preacher Dhirendra Krishna Shastri’s unpalatable comments comparing Hindu deities Ram and Krishna, coupled with Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav’s explicit call for a complete boycott of his upcoming events in Uttar Pradesh, has thrust into the spotlight a growing political trend in the state. Politicians – particularly those aligned with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation – are deploying religious storytellers (kathavachaks) to mobilise massive crowds in the months leading up to the assembly elections.

On November 4, Akhilesh Yadav issued a formal appeal to the state government and administration regarding public events scheduled across November and December in districts including Ambedkar Nagar, Pratapgarh, Gonda, Jhansi, Lucknow, and Agra. The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh demanded that permission be strictly denied to any controversial individual capable of vitiating social harmony, in a clear reference to Shastri, who has since making his remarks triggered a number of police complaints and a defamation suit against himself.

Yadav has termed Shastri’s comments as blasphemy. 

“A humble request is extended to the governance-administration as well as to all organisers and sponsors of their programmes that they should maintain their distance from such so-called storytellers. There are several such figures who may adopt the attire and speech of a narrator, but storytelling and discourse are merely their trade. They frequently make vulgar displays of their material achievements. Such people are perpetually prone to senseless talk in pursuit of cheap popularity; money alone is their religion,” Yadav said in one among the many statements issued by him over the issue.

Controversies, public invites and high-profile events

The controversy erupted after a video went viral showing Shastri commenting on Krishna’s physical appearance, posture, and mannerisms while contrasting him unfavourably with Ram during a Ram Katha in Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh. “Even when he stands, he is crooked in three places. His feet are crossed, his waist is bent, and with his neck tilted, he plays the flute,” Shastri had remarked, adding that playing the flute was merely a sport, whereas wielding a bow and arrow was serious business.

Pitching the two deities against each other was widely interpreted as an insult to followers of Krishna – specifically the Yaduvanshi community, which forms the core of the modern-day Yadav political identity. Ram, conversely, is revered as a Kshatriya icon. Following widespread outrage and criminal complaints, Shastri issued a clarification and apology, explaining that he was overcome with emotion while expressing a “heartfelt reproach” to “Shri Thakur Ji.” He asserted that he remains a devoted Krishna bhakt. Claiming his words were misinterpreted and that he had no intention of insinuation or insult, he apologised to anyone whose religious feelings were hurt.

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However, the political drama has deepened after influential Thakur MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh (popularly known as Raja Bhaiya) – a long-term ally-turned-nemesis of Yadav – announced he would host Shastri for a grand Ram Katha at the Yogiraj Devaraha Baba Katha Mandapam in his kothi in Kunda, Pratapgarh, from November 17 to 20. Raja Bhaiya, a sitting MLA........

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