Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday offered prayers at the Shiva temple in Kedarnath and unveiled a 12-foot statue of Adi Guru Shankaracharya at the seer’s reconstructed samadhi.

“The destruction this place [Kedarnath] witnessed years ago was unimaginable. People who visited this place, wondered if our Kedar dham would be restored,” said Mr. Modi.

“But the voice within me said that it will be redeveloped with renewed glory,” he added.

“There was a time when spirituality and religion were linked to only stereotypes. However, the Indian philosophy speaks of human welfare and having a holistic, whole outlook on life,” he said, adding that Adi Shankaracharya worked to acquaint the society with this truth.

Speaking on the various religious infrastructural projects taking place across the country, he said, “Today our cultural heritages, centres of faith are being looked at with the pride that they deserve. In Ayodhya, Lord Ram’s grand temple is being built with pride, Ayodhya is regaining its prestige.”

Addressing on the developments taking place in and around Kedarnath, Mr. Modi said, “Rapid progress is being made on the Char Dham road project. In the future, devotees will be able to reach Kedarnath via cable car, work on this has started as well.”

“A plan to construct ropeway is also in progress to make it easy for devotees to visit the nearby Hemkund Sahib,” he said

The prime minister is set to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of reconstruction projects worth over ₹400 crore at the Himalayan temple.

Work on the Shankaracharya statue, weighing around 35 tonnes, had begun in 2019.

Mr. Modi arrived at the Dehradun airport in the morning and was received by Uttarakhand Governor Lt. Gen. Gurmit Singh (retd), Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and his cabinet colleagues Subodh Uniyal and Ganesh Joshi, besides Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Premchand Aggarwal.

Kedarpuri reconstruction is considered the Prime Minister’s dream project whose progress is reviewed personally by him at regular intervals