Amidst the insurmountable snowclad Himalayan mountains and the pristine Mandakini river flowing by its side, lies the divine resting place of Lord Shiva-Kedarnath. The abode of Lord Shiva remains open for its devotees only between the months of April (Akshaya Tritiya) and November (Kartik Purnima, the autumn full moon) due to inclement weather conditions. However, this time around, one among the lakhs of devotees to visit the shrine has been none other than the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi.
After completing a marathon 51-days of campaigning during the Lok Sabha elections in which PM Modi addressed a stunning 142 rallies and 4 roadshows, the PM is on a two-day visit to the holy shrines of Kedarnath and Badrinath. The PM is said to have done 3-4 rallies daily, extending it to 5 rallies on two occasions and said to have taken rest for only 3-4 days since he started his election campaign on March 28 in Meerut and ended it in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone on Friday. Uttar Pradesh saw 29 rallies from PM Modi while West Bengal witnessed 17 of them.
Along with offering prayers at the shrine, PM Modi also took stock of the ongoing developmental work at Kedarnath. Modi also undertook the strenuous climb as a part of his Kedarnath visit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a devotee of Baba Kedarnath and he has been personally involved in the supervision of the construction works on the various development projects at the shrine.
Last year, in a grand reopening ceremony, the idol was brought in a flower-adorned palanquin to be reinstalled in the temple. Thousands of devotees had flocked to the Himalayan temple to have a Darshan and to offer prayers. Several new amenities such as meditation cave, new pavements and other facilities were added for the pilgrims. A laser show on Lord Shiva has been one of the major attractions for the pilgrims coming to the shrine.
Here are some of the photos of PM Narendra Modi at one of the holiest Hindu shrines of Kedarnath:-
Dressed in the traditional Pahari attire of Uttarakhand, PM Modi walked all the way from the helipad to the Kedarnath temple to offer his prayers to Lord Shiva.
After offering prayers at the temple, PM Modi was seen taking stock of the re-developmental works at Kedarnath. PM Modi has also been personally involved in overseeing the new projects being developed, embellishing the holy shrine.
One of the latest projects developed at Kedarnath is the meditation cave. It was inaugurated in May last year and has been one of the tourist attractions. PM Modi can be seen in the picture wearing a saffron robe, characteristic of a hermit, engrossed in meditation inside the meditation cave.
PM Modi has been one of the staunch devotees of Lord Shiva and this is the fourth time in the last 2 years that he has visited the holy shrine of Kedarnath. Last year, in November, PM visited Kedarnath Temple on the occasion of Diwali. In 2017, during the reopening ceremony, PM Modi visited the shrine. PM Modi had also visited Kedarnath in the same year on its closing ceremony on October 30.
