Jyotirmath Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwarananda on Monday, July 15, strongly opposed the construction of the Kedarnath temple in the national capital Delhi. Jyotirmath Shankaracharya was in Maharashtra’s capital Mumbai to attend the ‘shubh ashirwad’ ceremony of Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani’s youngest son Anant Ambani and his wife Radhika Merchant.
In Mumbai, Swami Avimukteshwarananda visited Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray’s residence ‘Matoshree’. He also blessed Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Ambani ceremony.
“Yes, PM Modi came to me and bowed down. It is our rule that whoever comes to us, we will bless him. Narendra Modi ji is not our enemy. We are his well-wishers and always talk about his welfare. If he makes any mistake, we also tell him that…” Tapasvi told.
However, Swami Avimukteshwarananda interacted with the media after a series of events in Mumbai and made objectionable comments on the political scenario, especially Maharashtra.
Let us see what Swami Avimukteshwarananda said.
On Uddhav Thackeray
Swami Avimukteshwarananda said that former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has been ‘betrayed’. Swami Avimukteshwarananda went to Uddhav Thackeray’s residence ‘Matoshree’ on his request.
Visiting Thackeray’s residence, Swami Avimukteshwarananda alleged, “We follow Hinduism. We believe in ‘punya’ and ‘paap’. ‘Betrayal’ is said to be one of the biggest sins, the same has happened with Uddhav Thackeray.”
Swami Avimukteshwarananda said, “He welcomed us and we said that we are saddened by the betrayal done with him. Our sorrow will not go away until he becomes CM again.”
Uddhav Thackeray had to resign as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on 30 June 2022 after Eknath Shinde rebelled and walked out taking most of the Shiv Sena MLAs with him. Shinde is now the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Shinde formed the government in alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis.
However, the Mahayuti alliance of Shinde Sena, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar suffered a defeat in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, giving a much-needed boost to Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
On Kedarnath
Swami Avimukteshwarananda opposed the construction of the Kedarnath temple in Delhi. On July 10, Uttarakhand Chief Minister and BJP leader Pushkar Singh Dhami attended the bhoomi pujan at a ceremony held in Hiranki Mohalla near Burari in northwest Delhi and laid the foundation stone of the new Kedarnath temple to be built at that site.
Swami Avimukteshwarananda raised the issue of ‘gold scam’ in Kedarnath. He alleged that ‘228 kg of gold is missing from Kedarnath.’ He demanded an investigation into the matter and also asked why no one is raising this issue.
Swami Avimukteshwarananda said, “Kedarnath temple cannot be built in Delhi. There are 12 Jyotirlingas here. Its place is fixed. This is wrong. There has been a scam of 228 kg gold in Kedarnath. No one is worried about it.”
Swamy said, “After committing the scam there, will Kedarnath be built in Delhi? And then there will be another scam.”
Kedarnath is one of the four Hindu holy temples, the Char Dham, which also includes Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.
