Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath triggered a controversy after he refused to wear a karakul cap at the mazaar (mausoleum) of revered poet-saint Kabir at Maghar on Wednesday.
Adityanath, who is also a priest of the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur, was on a visit to the mausoleum on 27 June – a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit.
According to reports, the caretaker of the mausoleum, Khadim Hussain, tried to place the cap on the head of the UP CM as he entered the mazaar. Adityanath immediately prevented Hussain from doing so and politely refused to wear the cap.
At the request of the caretaker, the UP CM then posed for a photo holding the cap.
The opposition parties slammed Adityanath for his refusal to wear the cap.
While Samajwadi Party spokesperson Sunil Sajan called it “heights of hypocrisy” and said “such people should not go the Kabir dhaam,” Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said the CM should understand that he was expected to take everyone together.
“A CM has to take everyone together. If someone is offering you a cap, pag, it is just a gesture to show respect. People occupying top offices have to take everyone together,” Tiwari was quoted as saying in media reports.
He added that mere wearing of the cap would not change the CM’s religion.
UP Cabinet minister Mohsin Raza, however, defended Adityanath by questioning the intention behind offering caps to leaders.
Adityanath’s refusal reminded many of the 2011 incident when PM Modi, who was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat, refused to wear a skull cap that was offered to him by a cleric in Ahmedabad during a ceremony.