Uttarakhand’s Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the new poster boy of Hindutva, moves from one controversy to another. He is now embroiled in a fresh imbroglio, having green signalled the setting up a new Kedarnath Dham in Delhi. Earlier this week, Dhami went ahead and inaugurated a puja in Burari in which the foundation stone for a second Kedarnath temple was laid. And this complex when completed would be given the title of Kedarnath Dham.

When the 3000 strong contingent of priests at Kedarnath Dham heard of this “heresy”, they immediately went on a hartal and warned him that if this hare-brained project was not shelved, they would intensify their agitation across all four dhams of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.

The priests also fear that a sizeable amount of money coming to the Kedarnath shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva would be diverted to the Delhi temple. They are already suspicious that funds presently being collected under the QR scheme were being diverted. Already, they have held meetings at Ukinath in Rudraprayag with civil officials.

The Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath Swami Avimukteshwarand who has emerged as a strong critic of the Modi regime has expressed his disapproval at this move. The Jyotirmath is located in the Joshmath close to the Badrinath dham.

“There can be no two Kedarnath dhams. This is against the basic tenets of Hinduism,” he remarked caustically. There are twelve jyotirlinga shrines of Lord Shiva. Not only have these places been clearly identified but Kedarnath, considered one of Hinduism’s holiest shrines is located at the feet of the temple named Kedar.

The Swami emphasised that the god Shiva had several other........

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