New Delhi: After leader Uma Bharti backed the worship of Shridi's Sai Baba, Sankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati slammed the water resources minister asking her not to "politicise" the issue and "interfere in religious matters".

"By supporting Sai's worship, Uma Bharti is trying to make the issue political. She is a minister, not a God. She has been voted to power to serve people. I ask her not to interfere in religious matters," the Shankracharya told reporters.

On Saturday, Bharti had supported Sai's worship and had said she also has faith in the saint. She added Sai never claimed to be a God or immortal.

Raising questions on the minister's faith in Sai, the Shankracharya said, "The saint the minister follows has also supported my stand on Sai."

The Shankaracharya had kicked-off a controversy on on Monday by asking Sai followers not to worship the saint because he was not God. Comparing Sai Baba with another spiritual leader , he even declared the Sai's worship a "conspiracy against Hindus as it divide the hierarchy of Gods".

“Going by the Hindu beliefs, only an avatar or a guru can be worshipped. Lord Vishnu is said to possess 24 avatars, as per the Sanatana Dharma philosophy. There is no mention of any other except Buddha and Kalki in the religious text. So, Sai clearly can’t be an avatar," said the Shankracharya.



Shankaracharya’s second rationale: “As far as it’s about following Sai as guru is concerned, he doesn’t fulfill the credentials of the same. Not only did he consume meat and facilitated circumcision operations, he was born into Pandarak society which is comprises of dacoits. For the reason, he can’t be considered as a role model for us.”



File photo: Sankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati