A day before the Ram Mandir consecration event, Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand said it is not a small thing that PM Modi did to awaken Hindus.
Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand of Uttarakhand’s Jyotish Peeth, who expressed concern about the Ram Temple consecration event and called the temple incomplete on Sunday, reiterated his admiration for PM Modi, saying that it is because of PM Modi that Hindus have become aware of their self-worth.
“The truth is that PM Modi has made Hindus self-aware, which is no small feat. We have stated several times in public that we are not anti-Modi but rather his supporters. Name another Indian prime minister who has strengthened Hindus as much as Modi has. We’ve had many prime ministers, and they’ve all been good; we’re not criticising anyone,” the Shankaracharya explained.
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“When Article 370 was scrapped, didn’t we welcome it? When the Citizenship Amendment Act came, didn’t we praise it? Did we obstruct PM Modi’s Swachchta Abhiyaan? We also praised how there was no disruption in the law and order situation after the Supreme Court ruled that Ram Temple will be built at the land,” Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand said.
“We are happy whenever Hindus are strengthened and Narendra Modi is doing that work,” the Shankaracharya added.
A major controversy erupted after the four Shankaracharya, or custodians of Hinduism, announced they would not be attending the event. Swami Avimukteshwaranand stated that the temple, which is considered God’s body, is incomplete, and thus it is inappropriate to perform the pran-pratistha of the new idol there. Following the controversy, which was fueled by the opposition’s questioning of the timing of the opening ceremony, some Shankaracharyas stated that they had no objections to the programme.
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On January 18, Jyotish Peeth Shankaracharya wrote a letter to Nritya Gopal Das, chief of the Ram Janmabhoomy Teerth Kshetra, inquiring what would happen to the existing idol as a new idol was to be placed in the sanctum sanctorum. “The question is, if this new idol is placed, what happens to Ram Lalla Virajman? So far, Ram devotees believed that the new temple was being built for Lalla Virajman. However, the discovery of a new idol in the temple’s under-construction sanctorum has raised concerns about whether Ram Lalla viraj will be overlooked/ignored,” according to the Hindi-language letter.
