Not just temples, building millions of houses for poor: PM Modi in Varanasi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (December 13) inaugurated the mega Kashi Vishwanath Dham in his home constituency Varanasi. The power project, which has been constructed at a cost of around Rs 339 crores, connects the prestigious Kashi Vishwanath Project with Ganga Ghats.

PM Modi who will be remembered as the architect of the new Kashi by future generations as the glory of the ancient town stands restored today, was welcomed by the locals with flowers, and chants of ‘Har Har Mahadev.’

The Prime Minister then boarded a cruise ship on Khidkiya Ghat along with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to reach Lalita Ghat where he took the holy dip into Ganga and collected water to perform jalabhishek at Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

Soon after the Rudrabhishek ceremony, PM Modi joined the masons and labourers involved in the renovation of VK Dham in order to honour them and got pictures clicked with them.

Later addressing the gathering on the temple premises, the PM said that Kashi represented India’s rich Sanatan traditions which had weathered several storms that came in the form of attacks by foreigners and continued to thrive on the global stage.

The PM said that the renovation of Kashi Vishwanath Dham was taking place after over two centuries. He said that it happened last time in the 18th century when Rani Ahilyabai Holkar from Maharashtra took the initiative to restore the temple’s pristine glory.

Emphasising the importance of Kashi and insignificance of geographical distance in Sanatan traditions PM Modi said that Holkar’s gesture clearly reflected her strong faith in these. He said that Aurangzeb and others did try hard to destroy India’s rich cultural heritage, but could not succeed because of the richness of Sanatan traditions that stayed alive within the people of the land. “Today those synonyms of terror are confined to some dark chapters of history. For every Aurangzeb, there was a Shivaji. For Salaar Masood, we had Suhel Dev”, he said.

The PM added that during the renovation of the temple premises several old temples that had over the years been subsumed in the multi-storeyed buildings were restored while the total area of Kashi Vishwanath Dham was expanded to around 5 lakh square ft adding to its grandeur. 

Modi thanked the people of Kashi; the masons, labourers and civil engineers involved in the construction and those people who had vacated their houses to shift elsewhere in order to allow construction to take place, saying that it was because of Mahadev’s will, their contribution and UP Government’s effort that devotees also over the world were being witnessed to a historic occasion like this. 

PM Modi further pointed out: “The rejuvenation of Kashi Vishwanath Dham is symbolic of our attempt to preserve our rich cultural and spiritual heritage while embracing modernity. It reestablishes Sanatan values as our guiding principle to move into the future on the path of development.”

He remarked: “Today, India is not only building temples in Ayodhya but also millions of houses for the poor; not only renovating Kashi Viswanath Dham  but also setting up medical colleges in every district and conducting space missions.”

Taking a dig at the opposition parties, the PM said that though inertia has always been alien to Varanasi, which exudes a natural warmth and spiritual energy, the opposition parties when they were in government, never thought of renovation of Kashi Vishwanath Dham for their petty political ends.

“India’s soul lives in Kashi and Kashi has only one government led by Mahadev. Whatever happens in Kashi cannot without Mahadev’s will”, he pointed out.

Prime Minister also remarked that special attention has been given to making temple premises easily accessible for the differently-abled and the elderly during the renovation.

At the end of the speech, PM Modi appealed to people to continue the mission to keep Ganga and the surroundings clean as well as to create and innovate. PM Modi also offered his prayers to Maa Annapurna.

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