BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at a rally in New Delhi.
After Hindu seers and opposition parties objected to the 'Har Har Modi' slogan, which supporters of Narendra Modi often use, the BJP prime ministerial candidate himself requested his supporters to refrain from using it.
"Some enthusiastic supporters have been using the slogan 'Har Har Modi'. I respect their enthusiasm, but request them not to use this slogan in the future," Mr Modi tweeted.
Shankaracharya of Dwarka Peeth, Swaroopanand Saraswati is the latest person to be offended by the slogan and registered a strong protest with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, asking him to stop such 'vyakti puja' (eulogising of an individual).
The Shankaracharya was unhappy over the traditional chant 'Har Har Mahadev' which is raised to hail Lord Shiva being 'modified' into 'Har Har Modi'.
Political parties like Samajwadi Party and Congress had also protested against the BJP's slogan 'Har Har Modi, Ghar Ghar Modi', saying that it was disrespectful to Lord Shiva.
Union Minister Salman Khurshid also strongly opposed the slogan and requested the Election Commission to take cognisance of it.
"After learning about it, I called up Bhagwat yesterday and asked him to stop such slogans, which is an insult to Lord Shiva," Swaroopanand told PTI today.
"I told him that converting 'Har Har Mahadev' into 'Har Har Modi' must be stopped. Instead of worshipping God, it is an attempt to worship a particular human being, which is against the Hindu religion," Swaroopanand said.
The seer said that he was flooded with calls from devotees, who were "deeply hurt" by such sloganeering.
"In his reply, Mr Bhagwat claimed that the RSS has always been against personality worship. He also claimed that such chanting is done due to over enthusiasm by some supporters, and it is not intentional," Swaroopanand said.
However, when Swami Swaroopanand was contacted after Mr Modi's latest tweet requesting his supporters not to use the slogan, his disciple Brahmvidyanand told PTI over the phone that, "Maharaj ji will welcome Modi's move," also saying that the seer does not want to make any further comment.