Uttarakhand’s Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the new poster boy of Hindutva, moves from one controversy to another. He is now embroiled in a fresh imbroglio, having green signalled the setting up a new Kedarnath Dham in Delhi. Earlier this week, Dhami went ahead and inaugurated a puja in Burari in which the foundation stone for a second Kedarnath temple was laid. And this complex when completed would be given the title of Kedarnath Dham.
When the 3000 strong contingent of priests at Kedarnath Dham heard of this “heresy”, they immediately went on a hartal and warned him that if this hare-brained project was not shelved, they would intensify their agitation across all four dhams of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.
The priests also fear that a sizeable amount of money coming to the Kedarnath shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva would be diverted to the Delhi temple. They are already suspicious that funds presently being collected under the QR scheme were being diverted. Already, they have held meetings at Ukinath in Rudraprayag with civil officials.
The Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath Swami Avimukteshwarand who has emerged as a strong critic of the Modi regime has expressed his disapproval at this move. The Jyotirmath is located in the Joshmath close to the Badrinath dham.
“There can be no two Kedarnath dhams. This is against the basic tenets of Hinduism,” he remarked caustically. There are twelve jyotirlinga shrines of Lord Shiva. Not only have these places been clearly identified but Kedarnath, considered one of Hinduism’s holiest shrines is located at the feet of the temple named Kedar.
The Swami emphasised that the god Shiva had several other names and the temple in Burari could be called by any other name of Shiva.
While highlighting this fresh controversy, Avimukteshwarand also highlighted how last year, 228 kilos of gold had disappeared from the Kedarnath temple at a time when this complex had been given 24×7 security.
The walls of the Kedarnath temple were adorned with gold plating in 2023. The majority of priests who conduct the various rituals at the Kedarnath temple were opposed to this gold plating. They pointed out it went against the ascetic traditions that Shiva symbolises. The Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee headed by RSS nominee Ajay Ajendra went ahead and replaced the silver plates with gold plates one day before the doors of the temple were closed to the public in 2022.
Santosh Trivedi, vice president of the Char Dham Mahapanchayat, told the media that they had been informed by the BKTC that the gold plating had cost Rs 125 crore though they were never informed the name of the donor as he had wanted to remain anonymous. On the morning of June 16 2023, it was Trivedi who first raised the alarm when he entered the temple and found the gold had been turned to brass. He put the liability of the missing gold on the BKTC.
The ensuing outrage forced the state minister of Tourism Satpal Maharan to order a time-bound enquiry but nothing came out of it. Finding themselves in an embarrassing situation, the BJP top brass in the state insisted the gold plating had been done with the consent of the ASI. The Kedarnath temple is said to have been built around 1050 AD and is under the care of the ASI but ASI officials on condition of anonymity insist they were not in the loop about this entire gold plating plan.
The missing gold from one of Hinduism’s most revered shrines further incensed the citizens of Kedarnath and Badrinath who have been at the receiving end of a “development model” over which they have not been consulted. The government is determined to turn these two cities into “spiritual smart cities” but they are horrified at the development work being carried on under the direct supervision of the prime minister which they believe has destroyed the dignity of these cities. The old dharmshalas which provided clean and inexpensive lodging to visiting pilgrims have been broken down and are being replaced by five-storey hotels which are charging exorbitantly expensive prices. The government has built a massive 850 foot wall along the Saraswati river and another 350 foot wall along the Mandakini river which they presume will help save the city from these rivers which are prone to flooding as happened in 2013 when the entire city of Kedarnath was washed away by massive floods.
The Shankaracharya has justified his demand for a thorough enquiry. He pointed out that initially the public was informed that “320 kg of gold was missing. The amount was then decreased to 228 kg and it was finally whittled down to 27 kg”.
Dhami now finds himself on the backfoot. He has now tweeted that “Jyotirlinga ka sthaan ek hee hai… mandir anek sthaano par bane hai. (Jyotirlinga cannot be replicated ….temples can be built at other places).”
But the political damage has been done. BJP has lost the Lok Sabha seat in the revered city of Faizabad (Ayodhya). More recently they have lost the assembly election in Badrinath. Residents of Badrinath have also been extremely upset at the massive demolishing that has taken place of their shops around the Badrinath temple without giving prior notice to the shopkeepers. The Badrinath Sangharsh Committee chief Jamna Prasad Rewani informed senior state bureaucrats that while residents of Varanasi had received huge amounts in compensation when their houses around the Kashi Vishwanath corridor were demolished, the residents of this hill town have received negligible amounts. Nor are they happy at the excessive amount of concrete and cement being used in the new construction given that scientists have repeatedly warned that Badrinath is built on loose glacial moraine. They also point to how uneven development has dried up the springs. There were five panchdharas of tremendous religious significance that flowed into the Alaknanda river that flows past Alaknanda and already two, the Kurma Dhara and the Prahlad Dhara have dried up.
There is a broader question on whether places of pilgrimage like the Char Dham can indeed be replicated. All four dhams are nestled in the Himalayas. The lush green valleys, the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas and the gushing rivers that flow around these dhams have added to their aura of spirituality. Communing with nature and seeking solitude formed an integral part of the pilgrim’s though today this has been destroyed by the large volumes that are pouring into these sites. Replicating these dhams in a city like Delhi will only serve to destroy their very essence.
The passing away of BJP legislator Shaila Rani Rawat who represented Kedarnath has seen the public here swear that they will teach the BJP a lesson in the coming by-elections.
Rashme Sehgal is an author and an independent journalist
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