Narendra Giri death: ABAP may meet to decide successor before mahant's Shodashi

PRAYAGRAJ: The 16th-day death ritual or "Shodashi" of Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad (ABAP) chief mahant Narendra Giri will take place at his Baghambari Gaddi Math on October 5.
A meeting of the ABAP, the apex decision-making body of the 13 recognised Hindu monastic orders of the country, could also be held in the Math a day or two before the Shodashi to discuss the successor of the mahant to head ABAP. However, the exact date of this vital meeting will be finalised soon.
Following the suicide by mahant Narendra Giri, the ABAP chief’s post is lying vacant and ABAP has the challenge of finding the reasons behind mahant’s death and appointing a new chief of this powerful body on priority.

“The general consensus among the representatives of the 13 monastic orders is that the meeting of the ABAP be held on October 3 or October 5, just before the 16th-day rituals of the mahant,” said a senior seer of the math, privy to the discussions being held in this regard.
Though ABAP’s meetings in Prayagraj usually have been held at Baghamabi Math premises for the past many years, the next meeting will not be taking place here as most seers believe that no such event should be held in the Math before the rituals of Shodashi. So, the next meeting of ABAP could be held either at Shri Panchayati Akhada’s Manahirwani ashram at Daraganj or Shri Panchayati Udaseen Akhada premises at Kydganj, the seer shared.
ABAP’s general secretary and patron of Juna Akhada Swami Hari Giri said, “Plans are afoot to hold a meeting of ABAP before the ‘Shodashi’ rituals of mahant Narendra Giri. Many important points were up for discussion during it.”

Mahant Narendra Giri was elected to the post of ABAP president in 2014 soon after the successful Kumbh-2013 on the banks of Sangam. It was during his tenure as the Akhada Parishad chief that the Kumbh-2019 was held in a grand manner and which saw Narendra Giri being re-elected to the post in October 2019 during a meeting held in Haridwar.
Following the untimely demise of the mahant, most saints want a new ABAP chief to be elected on priority as preparations for Kumbh-2025 need to start at least 2-3 years in advance. The senior saints at the ABAP meeting would need to take a call as to whether to appoint a new ABAP chief from Prayagraj itself, that is to host the Kumbh-2025 or go for a saint from some other district or state.