Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Dehradun/Kedarnath: As the Uttarakhand Assembly elections are just a few months away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated a rebuilt samadhi of Adi Shankaracharya in Kedarnath.
Work on the 12-foot statue of Adi Guru Shankaracharya at the seer's rebuilt samadhi which weighs around 35 tonnes, had begun in 2019. Modi also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of reconstruction projects worth over Rs 400 crore at Kedarnath.
Addressing a gathering of priests and devotees, he said the redevelopment of centres of faith in India shows the country's growing pride in its ancient saints and philosophers like Adi Guru Shankaracharya and Swami Vivekananda.
A grand Ram temple is being built in Ayodhya to restore its glory after centuries while the work on the Vishwanath Dham project in Kashi is nearing completion, the prime minister said.
Mentioning the under-construction Chardham all-weather road and the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail link projects, he said the pace at which infrastructure projects are being carried out in Uttarakhand more pilgrims will visit the state over the next 10 years than in the last 100 years. Modi, who began his visit to Kedarnath by offering prayers at the Himalayan temple, said visiting the place has always been an overwhelming experience for him.
Modi arrived at the Dehradun airport in the morning and was received by Uttarakhand Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (retd), Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and his cabinet colleagues Subodh Uniyal and Ganesh Joshi, besides Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Premchand Aggarwal.
Kedarpuri reconstruction is considered the prime minister's dream project whose progress is reviewed personally by him at regular intervals.
The Samadhi has been reconstructed after the destruction in the 2013 floods. The entire reconstruction work was undertaken under the guidance of the Prime Minister, who constantly reviewed and monitored the progress of the project.
Before the inauguration of the statue, BJP national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh said in a tweet, "The statue of Poojya Adi Shankaracharya which will be unveiled by Prime Minister Modi today at Kedarnath. Sri Ram Mandir and Deepotsav at Ayodhya, ongoing Kashi Vishwanath corridor work and today the works at Kedarnath. Giant strides towards cultural rejuvenation."
In view of Prime Minister Modi's visit to Kedarnath, the BJP has planned a grand nationwide program across the country. "Party has made arrangements for the live broadcast of the Prime Minister's program at thousands of temples across the country. Special cultural and religious events have also been arranged here, which will surely inculcate the sanskar of spiritual consciousness in the citizens," Tarun Chugh, BJP national general secretary said.