 "Kashi Vishwanath")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the first phase of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham, a project that is spread over 500,000 square feet and connects the temple premises to the River Ganga.
After arriving in Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, Modi paid obeisance at the Kaal Bhairav Temple and took a dip in Ganga from where he collected holy water for worship at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
Before the inauguration, Modi attended a prayer ceremony and later showered workers involved in building the project with flower petals.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President J P Nadda, and a large number of saints from across the country attended the ceremony. Adityanath said many people came to power using the name of Gandhi but it was for the first time that Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of a grand Kashi Vishwanath Dham was coming true.
The earlier premises of Kashi Vishwanath was limited to just 3,000 square feet. Now 23 new buildings have been constructed that will provide diverse facilities to the pilgrims and devotees.
Inauguration
Addressing the gathering, Modi lauded the civilisational heritage of Varanasi, and said many sultanates rose and collapsed but Benaras remained.
“Invaders attacked this city, tried to destroy it... But the soil of this country is different from the rest of the world. Here if an (Mughal Emperor) Aurangzeb comes, a (Maratha warrior) Shivaji also rises,” Modi said.
If India is building Ram Temple, Kashi Vishwanath Dham, it is also laying down thousands of kilometers of optical fibres in sea, building millions of houses for the poor and is working to send people to space, Modi said.
“The new India has heritage as well as development. It is not only proud of its culture but has equal belief in its capabilities,” he said. He said the new complex is also a symbol of the Sanatan culture of India and its antiquity and traditions.
Now 50,000-75,000 devotees can come to the temple premises, he said. He said “new history” was being created and “we are fortunate to have witnessed it”.
New premises
The inauguration of the state-of-the-art infrastructure, built at the cost of Rs 339 crore, surrounding the Kashi Vishwanath Temple near the iconic Dashashwamedh Ghat comes ahead of the Assembly Polls in Uttar Pradesh early next year.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had earlier said that it was Modi’s long-time aim to facilitate better accessibility to pilgrims and devotees, who had to encounter congested streets, as they went about offering prayers and water from River Gange at the temple.
Modi constantly gave inputs and insights to improve the project, the PMO said.
The new buildings will provide a variety of facilities to pilgrims, including yatri suvidha kendras, tourist facilitation centre, vedic kendra, mumukshu bhavan, bhogshala, city museum, viewing gallery, food court, among others.
The project involved the purchase and acquisition of more than 300 properties around the temple. The PMO said that around 1,400 shopkeepers, tenants, and homeowners were rehabilitated amicably.
Cruise baithak
Modi witnessed the Ganga aarti in the evening while onboard the Swami Vivekananda cruise, which he had boarded at Sant Ravidas Ghat. BJP President
J P Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar were among those who were also present on the cruise.
Opposition’s taunt
Following the inauguration, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav taunted Modi, saying people come to Kashi when the end is near.
“He should stay for two months, three months. That is a good place to stay. When the end is near, people stay in Banaras,” Yadav said. The elections to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly are due within three months and the Samajwadi
Party claims that it will oust the BJP from power.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
