“Can’t stand there and clap when Pm Modi touches the idol...”: Puri Shankaracharya declines Ram Mandir invitation

The head seer of Jagannath Puri math and a noted Hindu face Shankaracharya Swami Nishchalanand Saraswati has declined the invite for the Ram Mandir inauguration and consecration ceremony at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh on January 22 stating that only those allowed, as per the Hindu scriptures, should touch the idol of Lord Ram during consecration. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to inaugurate the Ram Mandir on January 22. Shankaracharya has slammed it and called it another interference in religious affairs.

“Our scriptures have clearly mentioned who can touch the idol. What will I do there during the consecration? Modi Ji will inaugurate and touch the idol. I can’t stand there and clap to applaud him. I know the dignity of my position. It isn’t ego”, said Shankaracharya Swami Nishchalanand Saraswati during a media interaction on Thursday.

When asked whether he had received the invitation, he claimed the invite was for him and that allowed one more person to accompany him. He, however, rebuffed the invite and said “Even if they had allowed me to take 100 people along with me I would have still declined it”. The Puri head sheer had previously criticised PM Modi over cow protection issue. He on Thursday stressed that the PM inaugurating the temple is interference in religious affairs. “Yogi ji will also be there. Modi Ji is giving yoga lessons and he is anyway already interfering in religious affairs. He will at max in folded hands greet the people but he won’t even look at the saints there at the temple. I am a man of principles. I can’t stand there and clap for Modi ji” Puri Shankaracharya added.

He had previously disapproved of the Ram Mandir being built according to the VHP’s plans. He had then claimed that the Shankaracharyas had plans of building a Rs 100 crore temple in Ayodhya. Upset over the recent developments, he praised PM Modi for not shying away from his Hindu identity. “I’m not at all upset, but happy just like any other Sanatani Hindu, particularly as the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesn’t believe in portraying himself as secular. He is brave and takes pride in Hindutva. He’s not a coward who portrays himself as secular. But what will I do there as the Shankaracharya, when Modi ji will touch the idol” the saint added.