Members of groups opposing the yatra said they don’t want anyone dictating their food habits.

Having faced opposition in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati Maharaj, popularly known as Jagadguru, will not be allowed to land in Meghalaya after protests over his cow protection yatra, sources have told NDTV. 

The Shankaracharya was expected to reach Meghalaya as part of the ‘Gau Dhwaj Sthapana Bharat Yatra’  – which advocates banning cow slaughter – on Saturday but sources said the state government has decided to inform the Airport Authority of India not to allow his chartered plane to land. Members of several groups had already reached the Shillong airport on Friday after getting news that the Shankaracharya would land that day. 

Speaking to the media, members of the groups said consuming beef is part of the staple diet for all of the northeast, barring Assam, and they would not tolerate anyone trying to tell them what to eat and what not to. 

On Thursday, the chartered plane of Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, who is the Shankaracharya of the Jyotir Math Peeth in Uttarakhand, was allowed to land in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland but did not get out of the airport after requests from authorities, who told him that doing so could lead to a law-and-order situation. 

After arriving at the Donyi Polo Airport in Hollongi, the Shankaracharya faced opposition from members of the All-Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU). He then went to Dimapur and was supposed to address a cow protection event in Kohima on Saturday, but had to turn back from there as well.  

“We want to tell the government on behalf of 100 crore Hindus that cow slaughter should be stopped and a law should be made on this,” the Shankaracharya had said earlier this month while pledging to go to 35 states on a cow protection mission.