All devotees may be equal in the eyes of the lord but the authorities thought otherwise in Kedarnath on the day when the shrine was reopened. Instead of opening the main portals of the shrine, the ‘VIP’ door of the temple was opened first in order to make it convenient for a select few to enter the shrine.
Many devotees who had reached Kedarnath for the reopening had to face inconvenience and wait in queue for up to an hour with ‘VIPs’ hogging time and space at the shrine. Also, devotees were barred from going towards the shrine in the morning due to the ‘VIP’ movement.
Chief Minister Harish Rawat reached the shrine compound at 8 am on Friday after which Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders arrived at 8.30 am. Due to ‘security concerns’ devotees were prevented from coming near to the shrine in the morning with only politicians, temple committee office bearers and media persons being allowed in.
After the portals of Kedarnath were reopened to the devotees at 8.50 am, the VIPs conveniently took their time in the sanctum sanctorum. Hundreds of devotees, including women and children, who had been waiting barefoot in queue since 6 am had to wait for about 25 minutes to one hour after reopening of the shrine.
Kedarnath Teerth Purohits Pashupatinath Bagwadi and Radhe Bagwadi said visits to the shrine by VIPs should be avoided on special occasions because the Government machinery tends to focus on the VIPs in stead of the general devotees.