New Delhi: Shri Kashi Vidvat Parishad has expressed anguish over the Etawah tonsuring incident and demanded strict legal action against the culprits. The parishad’s reaction came after a video went viral on social media showing a group of people tonsuring the head of a religious preacher and his aide after finding that they belonged to Yadav community.
The incident took place in Dandapur village of Etawah on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. The victims were ‘katha vachak’ (narrator of holy books) and they went to the village to preform a Bhagwat Katha. They were allegedly harassed and their hair was shaved for going to a village of Brahmins.
Kashi Vidvat Parishad in a statement termed the incident a conspiracy to divide Hindus and said that any person belonging to Hindu community is entitled to storytelling. It alleged that efforts are being made to make Hindus fight among themselves for political gain.
“On 25 June 2025, the meeting of Kashi Vidvat Parishad was held at the residence of Padma Bhushan-Professor Vashishtha Tripathi (president of Shri Kashi Vidvat Parishad). During the meeting, it was unanimously said that the incident that happened with the ‘katha vachak’ in Etawah is condemnable,” the statement read.
The parishad underscored that no person has the right to take the law into his own hands.
Professor Ramnarayan Dwivedi, the general secretary of Shri Kashi Vidvat Parishad, said that in Sanatan tradition, there have been many non-brahmin people who have been considered equal to sages like Maharishi Valmiki, Vedvyas, Ravidas or Raidas.
“All people have received respect and honor in the Sanatan tradition. And all Hindus have the right to discuss Bhagwat or discuss God. And no one can be stopped in this way. It is also sad that some so-called Vyas people, despite being Hindus, have tried to tarnish the Vyas Peetha from time to time, due to which the Vyas Peetha has been defamed,” the statement said.
“The way the law has been violated, if it is true then the administration should take action in a constitutional manner and conduct an impartial investigation and action should be taken against those who are guilty,” it added.
The parishad said that some people are trying to make Hindus fight among themselves for political gain. “In Hindu society there is no tradition of insulting anyone and behaving indecently. And there should not be collective abuse of any particular caste.”
Condemning the incident, the Kashi Vidvat Parishad urged the followers of Hindu Sanatan Dharma to rise above caste discrimination. “Develop spiritual and national consciousness in an atmosphere of goodwill and harmony so that our nation can be adorned with the position of Vishwa Guru,” it said. The parishad further stressed that there is no place for hatred, enmity, jealousy and discrimination in Hindu scriptures.
Professor Ramkishore Tripathi, Professor Ramakant Pandey, Professor Vinay Kumar Pandey, Professor Har Prasad Dixit, Doctor Divya Chaitanya Brahmachari, Professor Vivek Kumar Pandey and other scholars attended the meeting.