Ahead of the 2022 assembly polls in Uttarakhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers and performed 'aarti' at Kedarnath Temple on Friday in the Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand. PM Modi was seen sitting inside the sanctum sanctorum of the 8th-century temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. He then undertook a circumambulation of the Kedarnath shrine after offering prayers.

“A grand Ram Temple is being constructed in Ayodhya. Recently, deepotsav was celebrated there. Work on the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor project in Varanasi is also progressing rapidly… Now, the country aims high and also sets a time limit to achieve these aims,” PM Modi said as quoted by ANI.

After offering prayer at the temple PM Modi inaugurated the reconstructed samadhi of Adi Shankaracharya and unveil the 12-feet tall statue of the seer, which was washed away in the devastating flood of 2013. He will also review and inspect the ongoing construction work. Adi Guru Shankaracharya, the 8th-century seer, had attained Moksha at Kedarnath.

PM Modi said that there was a time in the country when religion and spirituality were believed to be connected “only with stereotypes,” but Indian philosophy mentions human welfare and views life in a “holistic manner.”

“Adi Shankaracharya worked to make the society aware of this truth,” he added while speaking at the inauguration event.

"When India was grappling with 'Rag-Dwesh', Adi Guru Shankaracharya was envisioning a society free of sins of Hinduism through 'Advaita-Sindhanta'," PM Modi said.

"Adi Guru Shankaracharya established temples & Jyotirlingas by working all his life for the development of our 'Parma-Dharma' that reflects in 'Bhartiya & Bhartiyata'," he added.

He arrived at the Dehradun’s Jollygrant airport early 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.

“The prime minister’s vision is to develop Devbhoomi as the world’s spiritual and cultural capital where people from across the globe come for peace,” said Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami as quoted by PTI.

“Redevelopment of Kedarnath on such a large scale is a step towards implementing that vision. It is a proud moment for us. The prime minister has done things in Kedarnath which no one even thought of doing for hundreds of years,” he said.

PM Modi also laid the foundation stone of five Kedarpuri reconstruction projects worth over Rs 400 crore on the river Mandakini.

These projects include Saraswati Retaining Wall Aasthapath and Ghats, Mandakini Retaining Wall Aasthapath, Tirth Purohit Houses and Garud Chatti bridge on river Mandakini.

Kedarpuri reconstruction is also considered the Prime Minister’s dream project whose progress is reviewed personally by him at regular intervals.

Image Courtesy: ANI