Uttarakhand: Former CM Harish Rawat expresses concerns over PM Modi laying foundation stone for Adi Shankaracharya's samadhi

Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat today expressed reservations over Prime Minister Narendra Modi laying the foundation stone for a project to renovate Adi Shankaracharya's Samadhi in Kedarnath, saying it should be done by saints and seers.

Modi is scheduled to visit Kedarnath on Friday, a day after Diwali, when he is likely to inaugurate a number of projects and also lay the foundation for the renovation of the Samadhi (tomb).

The tomb was damaged in the 2013 flash floods.

"We had our own plans for the project. We wanted the Shankaracharyas of the four 'peeths' to lay its foundation and inaugurate it. However, the BJP has decided to assign the work - which should have been done by saints and seers - to the prime minister," Rawat told reporters here.

"They have raised the prime minister's stature to that of a 'Dharmapurush' by making him do the job of saints and seers," he said.

Meanwhile, Dwarka Shardapeeth Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopananda Saraswati has written to Badrinath-Kedarnath Mandir Samiti, saying the foundation stone for the project by Modi was welcome.

But, he added, the renovation work should not be assigned to any other institution as it was the "first right" of the Shankaracharyas of the four 'peeths' founded by the Adi Guru.

"There is nothing wrong with the prime minister laying the foundation of the project, rather it is worth welcoming.
But carrying out renovation is our first right," he wrote.

"I had been urged by the temple committee during my visit to Badrinath in May this year to oversee the renovation work of Adi Guru Shankaracharya's Samadhi. I got a statue of the Adi Guru made in Jaipur and sent it to Kedarnath," Swami Swaroopananda said in the letter.