The Shankaracharya of Dwarika and Jyotir Peeths, Swaroopanand Saraswati has demanded revamping of religious places of importance from Modi government. Referring to the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, he said that minotiry appeasement was the main reason for Trinamool Congress’ defeat in the parliamentary elections. However, he also opined that the Bharatiya Janata Party was politicising lord Ram which was offending Banerjee.
Speaking to this correspondent at his ashram in Kankhal, he demanded that the non-disputed land at Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya should be returned to its original custodians. Speaking on the defeat of Congress, he opined that Congress had to face defeat because of fiddling with electronic voting machines during elections. He said that the nationality of Congress president Rahul Gandhi was Indian and not British. The ascetic demanded that the PM Narendra Modi must fulfill the promises made in the past five years and impose a complete ban on cow slaughter. Modi must undertake beautification of the Samadhi of Adi Shankaracharya in Kedarnath, he said. Stating that Adi Shankaracharya had contributed considerably to Uttarakhand, he said that Badrinath Math established by him must be revamped. For the revamp of these holy places, the seer demanded that the state government should take necessary steps for preservation of the Sanatan tradition.
Swaroopanand also said that the Dehradun airport must be named after Adi Shankaracharya instead of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He said the previous state government had also proposed to the union government to name the airport after Adi Shankaracharya. He said, he hoped that Modi government would name the airport after the Adi Shankaracharya.