On the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath travelled to Varanasi on Wednesday, 29 July 2026 to inaugurate the Samrasta Sankalp Abhiyan — a state-level social harmony campaign launched in honour of the 650th birth anniversary year of the revered 15th-century Bhakti saint Guru Ravidas Maharaj.

Prayers at the birthplace temple

The Chief Minister began the programme at the Shri Guru Ravidas Janmsthan Mandir — the temple built at the saint's traditional birthplace in Varanasi — where he offered prayers and performed darshan-pujan. He then placed a floral tribute, pushpanjali, at the statue of Guru Ravidas, paying his respects before the formal launch of the campaign.

The message CM Yogi drew from Ravidas

Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister said that Sant Ravidas Maharaj 'showed society the path rooted in equality, goodwill, and the discipline of righteous work.' He added that Ravidas's ideals 'remain a source of inspiration for social harmony and nation-building even today.' The words were a deliberate echo of the campaign's own name — samrasta meaning social cohesion, sankalp meaning resolve.

Why the 650th anniversary year matters

Guru Ravidas, born near Varanasi in the 15th century, was one of the foremost voices of the Bhakti movement — a poet-saint whose verses challenged caste hierarchy and preached the dignity of labour and devotion to a formless God. His followers, spread across northern India and the diaspora, regard his birthplace in Varanasi as a major pilgrimage site. Uttar Pradesh governments have periodically organised programmes at the Janmsthan Mandir to draw on his message of equality; the 650th birth anniversary year gives the current administration a landmark occasion to anchor a sustained campaign around that legacy.

Samrasta Sankalp Abhiyan: what it sets in motion

The Samrasta Sankalp Abhiyan is designed as a state-wide campaign, with district-level events expected to follow the Varanasi launch in the coming months. The programme fits into a broader pattern in which the Yogi Adityanath government has linked Bhakti-era saints — figures associated with themes of social cohesion — to its development and governance narrative. Guru Purnima, the day traditionally dedicated to honouring one's spiritual teacher, provided a symbolically charged moment to begin a campaign rooted in a saint's teachings.

The saint's message — that worth lies in conduct, not birth — has never aged. Whether the campaign that carries it forward reaches the communities who need it most is the question the coming months will answer.