Jagadguru Paramhansa Acharya Maharaj is a Hindu extremist priest based in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. He is a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ (Hindu Nation) enthusiast. Through his venomous speeches and cheap theatrics, he has time again made national headlines. He is notorious for his genocidal remarks against Muslims.

In September 2021, he was part of ‘Dharma Sansad’ (Hindu Parliament), demanding that India be forthwith declared ‘Hindu Rashtra’ (Hindu Nation). He threatened to commit suicide by taking ‘Jal samadhi’ ( suicide by drowning) in river Saryu, if India is not declared so by October 2, 2021. He even asked the government to terminate the nationality of Muslims and Christians.

His ‘plan’ was however interrupted when he was put under house arrest.

Boycotting the film ‘Pathaan,’ Paramhansa declared that he would burn Shah Rukh Khan, the protagonist, alive to mark his protest against one of the movie’s songs, ‘Besharam Rang.’ If this was not enough, he even symbolically performed the actor’s last rites in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh by breaking a clay pot (used in Hindu funerals) with Shahrukh Khan’s image on it. The video of this barbaric spectacle went viral, but as usual, no action was taken against the seer.

Paramhansa has openly called for Muslim Genocide in India more than once. In an interview with the Times Express, he laid bare his sinister aspiration when he said, ‘I requested Narendra Modi to make me the Prime Minister of India for one day, preferably Friday (Muslims congregate in large numbers on Fridays for prayer), and I shall cleanse this country of Muslims’.

Maharaj justified the mob lynching of Muslims on the pretext of cow smuggling. He said, ‘Whoever kills cows must be killed in return’.

In January 2023, he announced that he would give a reward of Rupees 500 to anyone who would bring the head of Samajwadi leader, Swami Prasad Maurya. The leader, who is a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, had burnt the copies of the Hindu holy scripture, Ramcharitmanas blaming it as being the root of caste-based discrimination.