Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, visited 'Matoshree', the residence of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, at the latter's request on Monday.
The Shankaracharya expressed his disapproval of the recent political events that led to Thackeray's removal as Chief Minister. He called the situation a "Vishwasghat" (betrayal) and asserted that their pain would only subside when Thackeray returned to the position.
"We follow Hindu religion. We believe in 'Punya' and 'Paap'. 'Vishwasghat' is said to be one of the biggest sin, same has happened to Uddhav Thackeray. He called me, I came. He welcomed, we said that we are pained over betrayal done to him. Our pain will not go till he again becomes CM," said Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath in Mumbai.
The Shankaracharya reiterated his disapproval of constructing a replica Kedarnath Temple in Delhi. He said that the significance of the twelve Jyotirlinga sites having fixed locations and questioned the rationale behind a replica.
The Shankaracharya raised question about the 228 kgs of gold missing from Kedarnath temple situated in Uttarakhand. He said "228 kg of missing gold" from temple. He expressed his concern about the lack of investigation into this issue.
Kedarnath Temple cannot be made in Delhi. There are defined twelve Jyotiralinga. Its location is fixed. It is wrong. There was a scam of 228 kg gold in Kedarnath. Nobody is bothered about it. We are well-wishers of PM Modi.
"There is a gold scam in Kedarnath, why is that issue not raised? After doing a scam there, now Kedarnath will be built in Delhi? And then there will be another scam. 228kgs of gold is missing from Kedarnath... No inquiry has started. Who is responsible for this?... Now they are saying they will build a Kedarnath in Delhi, this cannot happen," he said.
He questioned the government's priorities, suggesting they should address the alleged scam before building a replica temple.