Tuesday, 07 November 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Kedarnath visit of Bageshwar Dham head Dhirendra Shastri on Monday has elicited controversy. The opposition Congress has taken a strong exception to the pictures of Shastri in the Garbh Grah (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple which is prohibited. The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara said that it appears as if BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are trying to protect him as bigger than Lord Badrinath and Kedarnath. He said that the self proclaimed Bageshwar Dham Baba, Shastri emulated PM Modi by doing a photoshoot in the Garbh Grah of the Kedarnath shrine. He said that the photoshoot is not only a violation of the rules and regulations of the temple committee but also an attack on the faith of followers of Hinduism.
Mahara said that both PM Modi and Dhirendra Shastri should offer apologies for breaching the rules of the shrine and hurting the sentiments of the people. The PCC president said that the top leaders of BJP have made it a habit to insult Hinduism and fan the religious sentiments of people for electoral gains. He alleged that on the one hand PM Modi has tried to deceive people by paying visits to the religious places in Uttarakhand regularly and on the other hand the BJP leaders have stolen the gold from the Kedarnath temple. The theft committed by the BJP leaders right under the nose of the BJP government has proved that they do not have any respect for the faith and have only used the Hindus as vote banks. Mahara said that the BJP government has failed to tell the people of the State about the quantity of the gold stolen from Kedarnath and the action the government has taken on the thieves.
