Accusing previous governments of leaving faith centers across the country in a state of neglect, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the places were now being restored to their former glory. The prime minister said this at a rally in Uttarakhand’s Mana village on the India-China border after offering prayers at the famous Kedarnath and Badrinath temples. PM Modi laid the foundation stone of Rs 3,400 crore road and cable car projects during the day. These were ropeway projects between Govindghat-Hemkund Sahib and Gaurikund-Kedarnath.
Citing the examples of the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, Ujjain and Ayodhya, which have undergone major renovation work in recent years, Modi attributed “years of neglect” to a “slave mentality”. “The slave mentality grips the minds of some people so strongly that they react even to development as if it were a crime,” he said. Such people never tire of praising faith centers in other countries but look down on faith centers in their own country, Modi said.
“Pride in our own heritage and all possible efforts for development are the foundations of 21st century India,” the Prime Minister added. Modi said the decades-long neglect of faith centers by previous governments reflected the neglect of millions of people.”Our faith centers are not just buildings, they are symbols of our cultural heritage that is thousands of years old. They are our life breath,” Modi said. He said that from the temple of Goddess Kali in Gujarat’s Pavagadh to the corridor of Goddess Vindhyachal, India is calling for its cultural upliftment.
The renovation work done at Kedarnath in recent years is bringing an unprecedented number of pilgrims to the Himalayan temple, he said. “Earlier, a maximum of four to five million people visited Kedarnath in one season, but I was told that 45 million people visited the temple this year, breaking all previous records,” Modi said. “Development projects in Himalayan faith centers not only facilitate pilgrims’ journey to temples, but also create employment opportunities for local people and boost the local economy,” he added.
He appealed to people who go on pilgrimage or to border areas for tourism to spend five percent of their budget on buying local products, saying that this small step can go a long way in boosting the local economy. Modi said the ropeway at Hemkund Sahib gurdwara will be celebrated by followers of the Sikh faith not only in the country but also in countries like the UK, Germany and Canada. Modi said Mana is called the last Indian village because of its location, but for him, every border village in the country is the first village from where the doors of prosperity will open.
He said it was not like he started talking about Man after he became the prime minister. Modi said he convened a meeting of the Uttarakhand BJP working committee in Mana 25 years ago, much to the chagrin of party workers who were reluctant to cover the distance in the hilly terrain.
“I told them that the day you understand the meaning of mana, people will give BJP a permanent place in their hearts. Your blessings have sent the BJP to power for the second time in a row,” he said. The Prime Minister said that people in the hills are tough and work hard. But that doesn’t mean they should be deprived of development, he said.
To deny them development would be an injustice to their ability to lead a difficult life, he said. Modi said the government is now working on delivering goods to the hills using drones. Drones will soon deliver fresh vegetables grown in the hills to big cities, increasing the income of local people, the prime minister said. PM Modi said that to overcome the connectivity problem, his party’s twin-engine government is working on rail, road and air connectivity.
The dream of Rishikesh-Karnaprayag railway in Uttarakhand will soon come true, he added. It was Modi’s sixth visit to Kedarnath and second to Badrinath as Prime Minister. After performing ‘puja’ at the Kedarnath temple in Rudraprayag district, the Prime Minister arrived at the Badrinath temple in Chamoli by helicopter. The Prime Minister performed ‘puja’ at the temples in the white traditional dress of the mountain people with an embroidered swastika. Modi also visited the Samadhi Sthal of Adi Guru Shankaracharya in Kedarnath and spent some time there. During his two-day tour of the state, Modi will inspect various ongoing development projects and lay foundation stones for some new ones.
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