President Pranab Mukherjee along with Governor KK Paul and Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat paid obeisance at the Badrinath shrine on Saturday soon after the portals of the revered shrine were thrown open to the pilgrims through ceremonial rituals performed amidst chanting of Vedic mantras and the tune played by the Army band.
The portals were opened at 4.30 am. Badrinath temple is the last one of the four fabled shrines being opened to the people and Mukherjee is the fifth President who paid obeisance here.
The devotees, who had reached the shrine on Friday to be present at the auspicious portal opening ceremony, were allowed into the sanctum sanctorum till 7 am. The entry of the devotees was stopped at 7 am when the President and other dignitaries reached to perform puja. As per the official estimate, around 15,000 pilgrims visited the shrine on the day its portals were opened after six months' winter break.
President Mukherjee had arrived at Dehradun on Friday and participated in the convocation of IGNFA the same day. On Saturday, he flew to Bardrinath early in the morning.
With the reopening of the Badrinath portals, the annual char dham pilgrimage has become fully operational with the portals of the other three shrines of the circuit having been opened over the past few days. Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Kedarnath temple on Wednesday, the day the portals of the temple were thrown open. Officials accompanying the President said that Mukherjee had gone to Gujarati Dharmshala which had been kept ready for the visit. After having a bath, he headed for the temple.
Significantly, the President chose to walk the way to the shrine from the dharmsala despite the administration having kept ready a palanquin to ferry him to the temple, given his advanced age. He performed the religious rituals at the sanctum sanctorum of the fabled temple for close to 45 minutes.
While coming out of the shrine premises, he slipped. But the security personal accompanying him helped him regain balance.
later, as he went back to the dharmshala, the Badrinath-Kedarnath temple committee and Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat gifted him a memento.