Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the sacred Kedar Shrine made him feel like bliss. On the occassion of opening of Kedarnath portals Rahul Gandhi made his way to the Dham by covering 12 km from Gaurikund to Lincholi. As the portals were opened at 8.30 am the Gandhi scion had darshan of Kedar baba, and stayed inside for at least 10 mins. The priests applied sandalwood paste on his forehead. Then he did “parikrama” (a round of the temple) along with Raval (cief priest) Bhima Shankar.
On his spiritual visit Congress Vice President said “Aam taur par mandir mein jaata hoon to mangta nahin hoon. Mein andar gaya, aag jaisi shakti mili (Generally, I don’t ask the God for anything while visiting a temple. I felt a fire-like energy after entering the temple,”).
Interacting with the reporters he said he had two aims for visiting Kedarnath, “First, I came here to pay homage to the victims of 2013 calamity and lost their lives in the deluge.” He recalled he had visited Uttarakhand at the time of disaster also. “Second, I wanted to help the porters who work here,” he explained the reason behind his decision to trek to Kedarnath. Rahul said he also wanted to send out a message to people that a visit to Kedarnath is safe.
He lauded the restoration and rehabilitation work done by Uttarakhand Government under Congress rule.
“It was Chief Minister Harish Rawat’s idea to build different helipads. Such helipads should be built in other states also. It can help in evacuation,” he added.
Rahul recriprocated to CM Rawats request immediately and planned his visit to the sacred shrine. He trekked from Gaurikund to Lincholi on Thursday afternoon and spent a night at Lincholi on his journey. He interacted with the labours involved in reconstruction work there. “He made enquiries about their children ‘s education. Since most labourers are from Nepal, he also asked about the functioning of Nepal government,” said a leader accompanying Rahul.
Talking to reporters, Rawat said Rahul’s decision to travel on foot has made his task of creating publicity for Char Dham Yatra easy.
News Source : Indian Express, Kedarnath
Published Date: April 25, 2015
