Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a 12-foot statue of Guru Shankaracharya at the Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand on Friday. He said that the nation aims high and achieves these aims in a set time limit.

PM Modi offers prayers at Kedarnath temple, unveils statue of Guru Shankaracharya

Modi was heard saying, “A grand Ram Temple is being constructed in Ayodhya. Recently, deepotsav was celebrated there. Work on the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor project in Varanasi is also progressing rapidly… Now, the country aims high and also sets a time limit to achieve these aims,” as per ANI.

The Prime Minister added that, “There was a time when spirituality and religion were believed to be associated only with stereotypes. But Indian philosophy talks about human welfare, sees life in a holistic manner. Adi Shankaracharya worked to make  society aware about this truth,”

A 12-foot statue was destroyed in 2013 when a destructive flood hit Kedarnath and killed hundreds of people. Modi said that while a number of people believed that the area could never be developed again, a ‘voice’ inside him thought the opposite and said that a redeveloped Kedarnath will be ‘more majestic than before’.

PM Modi celebrates Diwali with soldiers in Nowshera, J&K

A sculptor from Mysore is the man behind building the new Shankaracharya statue. The material used to build it is chlorite schist, a rock that is popular for its ability to withstand harsh weather conditions, including heavy rainfall and sunshine.

The Prime Minister was welcomed by Uttarakhand’s chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Governor Lt Gen (retd) Gurmit Singh and several other senior state officials upon his arrival at the Dehradun airport on Friday morning.

Modi made a visit to the Kedarnath Temple in an Indian Air Force chopper and performed rituals inside the temple.

Deepotsav 2021: Nine lakh lamps lit on banks of Sarayu, Uttar Pradesh

While the inauguration of Guru Shankaracharya’s statue was the highlight of the day, the Prime Minister also launched a number of other projects, including the Tirith Purohit houses, Garud Chatti bridge and the Saraswati Retaining wall, which amount to approximately Rs 130 crore.