Varanasi: "Narendra Modi has changed the very DNA of Kashi (Varanasi). How could this happen to a living heritage like this holy city? The pradhan mantri is driving away aboriginals from Kashi, which their forefathers built centuries ago? Modi cannot alter Varanasi's fakkadpan (free spirit)," said an angry Mahant of influential Akhara Goswami Tulsidas, Vishwambhar Nath Mishra.

Mishra, who works as a professor of electronics engineering in Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), and heads Sankat Mochan Foundation, minces no words while accusing the PM and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of demolishing ancient temples, heritage buildings and displacing thousands of residents to make way for Modi's dream project — the Kashi-Vishwanath Corridor.