Etawah, May 17 -- On the outskirts of Etawah town in central Uttar Pradesh is the Lion Safari Park, once a big draw for tourists in India's most-populous province but now closed due to a recent avian flu scare.

But coming up roughly8km away, off the Etawah-Bhind bypass road, is another potential landmark for the city often considered a stronghold of the Yadav family.

Here, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav - accused by the Bharatiya Janata Party of being anti-Hindu for skipping the Ram temple inauguration in January 2024 - is quietly pushing a major religious project - the Kedareshwar Mahadev temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva.

The temple is being built on a 12-acre plot by the Kedareshwar Mahadev Etawah Temple Trust, whose chief trust...