Puri Shankaracharya to skip Ayodhya Ram Temple consecration
Ayodhya: Preparations for the consecration ceremony of Lord Ram's idol in the Ram Temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya are in full swing. Meanwhile, Shankaracharya of Puri has declined to participate in the consecration event, media reports said.
He has also made statements regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that there is unnecessary commotion, according to media reports.
Shankaracharya Swami Nishchalanand Saraswati, the pontiff of the Govardhana Mutt in Puri, said that there are certain dignities associated with his position.
He said the January 22 event is being given a political angle and he will stay out of it.
He remarked, "If Modi ji inaugurates and touches the idol, should I go there to just clap and cheer? I am concerned about the dignity of my position, so I will not go there."
"The Prime Minister will be in the sanctum sanctorum and touch the idol. This is being given a political angle. Lord Ram's consecration must be done in a dignified way. I will neither oppose it nor attend it," said the Puri Shankaracharya.
"I have put forward my views and want everything to go smoothly," he added.
The pontiff of the Jyotir Mutt in Uttarakhand has echoed similar views whereas their counterparts from Dwarka and Sringeri mutts have backed the event, according to NDTV.
The title "Shankaracharya" is frequently employed for the leaders of religious institutions, known as mutts, in the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism.
Adi Shankaracharya founded four such mutts, located at Badrikashram Jyotish Peeth in the north, Shardha Peeth in Dwarka to the west, Govardhan Peetha in Puri to the east, and Sringeri Sharada Peetham in the Chikkamagalur district of Karnataka.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is one of the main invitees to the grand consecration ceremony of the Ayodhya temple scheduled for January 22.
Meanwhile, the Congress party has called the event as a "political project" and has opted not to accept the invitations to its leaders, including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, his predecessor Sonia Gandhi, and the party's Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
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