Why tamper with Hindu rituals? Congress questions BJP’s Kedarnath temple in Delhi

Uttarakhand: The Uttarakhand Congress on Monday came down on the BJP asking why it was ‘tampering with the glory of jyotirlings’ by constructing a new Kedarnath temple in Delhi, Scroll reported citing The Indian Express.

The reaction comes after Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami last week laid the foundation to the temple in the capital city.

It is reported quoting Surendra Rautela, who is the president of the Kedarnath Dham Trust Delhi that the temple is meant for elderly or infirm pilgrims who cannot make the Kedarnath pilgrimage.

However, the Congress on Monday said that the BJP was tampering with the Hindu tradition by franchising the Kedarnath temple.

“Just as the BJP previously created dozens of its own shankaracharyas, in addition to the traditional four [by going] against Vedic tradition, they are now tampering with the glory of jyotirlings,” Congress spokespersons Garima Mehra Dasauni and Sheeshpal Bisht were quoted by The Indian Express as saying on Monday.

The shankaracharyas head four shrines called peeths, founded by the eighth-century religious scholar Adi Shankaracharya, situated in Joshimath in Uttarakhand, Dwarka in Gujarat, Puri in Odisha and Sringeri in Karnataka.

According to Hindu religious texts, Kedarnath is a jyotirling from where the deity Shiva emerged.

The spokespersons asked ‘Why name it after our char dham?’, adding, ‘The Kedarnath dham has its own history and beliefs. It is not a franchise that you can establish anywhere.’

Meanwhile, Pushkar Singh Dhami called out the Congress saying that the party was creating controversy over Kedernath temple as it has no real matters to discuss.

The chief minister told reporters that ‘It has been said before that Kedarnath dham can only be in Kedarnath on the banks of Mandakini Saraswati,’ adding ‘Rest of the temples can continue to be built.’

Some Hindu religious priests also came out questioning the name of the temple in Delhi as Kedarnath.

Brijesh Sati, the general secretary of the Uttarakhand Char Dham Teerth Purohit Maha Panchayat told The Hindu that the priest community is angry over what he said misusing the name of Kedarnath for monetary gains.

He told the newspaper that there was issue of in making Shiva temples, adding ‘But they cannot replicate Kedarnath. If this is allowed, it will create confusion among devotees.’

The controversy crops up as the state gets ready for another Assembly bye-poll in Kedarnath, following the demise of BJP MLA Shaila Rani.