Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a trip to Uttarakhand and was welcomed by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. He also visited the Kedarnath temple ahead of its closure for the next six months.
Governor Shri KK Paul and CM @tsrawatbjp welcomed the Prime Minister to Uttarakhand. PM will attend programmes in Kedarnath during his visit to the state. pic.twitter.com/T3HyMGTwB6
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 20, 2017
#Uttarakhand: PM Modi offers prayers at Kedarnath Temple pic.twitter.com/rJW6zHzcpt
— ANI (@ANI) October 20, 2017
After offering prayers at the Kedarnath Temple, the Prime Minister addressed a huge gathering. He began his speech by greeting everyone around the world who mark the start of Nutan Varsh as a day after Diwali is celebrated as the Gujarat New Year.
I am happy to be in Kedarnath, a day after Diwali. Today, Gujaratis are celebrating the start of a New Year. I convey my greetings to everyone around the world who mark the start of Nutan Varsh: PM @narendramodi in Kedarnath
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 20, 2017
According to the reports, Modi has old relations with Kedarnath and has been visiting the temple for a long time. It is also said that Modi sat for weeks in devotional exile in a place called Garud Chatti, 3 km far from Kedarnath Temple. From the time Modi was an RSS promoter and even when he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat and then the Prime Minister of India, he has been visiting the temple from time to time.
This visit of Modi is also significant as he is the first Prime Minister to visit the temple when the gates of the main temple open after being closed for the 6 months. Modi offered his prayers at the temple and did the Rudraabhishek for the development of the nation.
Addressing the gathering Modi pledged to devote himself to fulfilling the dream of a developed India by 2022. “Jan Seva is Prabhu Seva. From this holy land of Kedarnath, I seek the blessings of Bhole Baba and pledge to devote myself fully to realising the dream of a developed India by the time we mark 75 years of freedom in 2022,” he said.
Talking about the tragic floods in 2013, Modi said that the floods were drastic and made everyone sad. He further added that in2013, he was not the Prime Minister, but he had visited the state and did everything he could to help the flood victims in 2013 as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. He believed that serving the people is like serving the God, Modi said. Attacking the opposition he said that during the floods in 2013, Congress was ruling at the Centre and the government had become nervous when Modi had stepped forward to rebuild the damaged area.
He also spoke about his previous visits to Kedarnath saying that “I spent some important time of my life here in Garud Chatti (Kedarnath) but maybe baba (Lord Shiva) did not want me to stay here long.”
During his speech, he announced five developments projects, including the widening of the approach road to the temple and build the Retaining wall of the Mandakini river. Promoting tourism in the state, Modi invited everyone to come and explore the Himalayas. He said that “The Himalayas have so much to offer- for spiritual pursuits, for the nature lover, for those interested in adventure, water sports. I invite everyone to come and explore the Himalayas.”
Addressing the gathering Modi said that the main motive to develop Kedarnath was to show how an ideal ‘Tirth Kshetra’ should be, how it should be pilgrim friendly and the wellbeing of the priests should be given importance. He also ensured that during the development the environment will not be damaged. Modi told “We are building quality infrastructure in Kedarnath. It will be modern but the traditional ethos will be preserved.”
Praising the people of Uttrakhand, he said that Discipline is in the blood of people here in Uttarakhand, at least one person from each family is a soldier here. He further added that the government will take initiative to ensure that the youth of the state do not leave thearea in search for job and better living conditions. Centre is taking steps to ensure that resources of the mountains are merged in for development of only the mountains, he said.
He concluded the speech saying that “If we will take care of the environment, the environment will take care of us. If we will take care of the nature, the nature will take care of us.”