Sankarcharya: BJD govt is ‘destroying’ sanctity of religious places

By Sukanta Kumar Mohanty

Bhubaneswar, May 28: Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati on Saturday came down heavily on Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) saying it was determinedly destroying Hindu heritage sites in the state.

The seer also slammed state BJP for its “tacit” understanding with the BJD.

“The Odisha’s ruling BJD is trying to convert major places of pilgrimage in the state into tourist places. It’s not caring for public outburst against such indecent activities as it boasts of obtaining people’s mandates in every assembly elections since 2000. Hence it is indulging in such nefarious activities,” said the Puri seer who is considered as the highest spiritual guru of all Hindus across the world.

Sankaracharya’s comment came as the state government continued construction work of the controversial Srimandir Heritage Corridor Project near Jagannath temple at Puri without the nods of Archaeological Survey of India and National Monument Authority.

“There is no political opposition to the BJD government’s autocratic behavior. The BJP is hand-in-glove with the BJD and the Congress is no longer a reckoning political force in the state,” Sankaracharya said.

On Friday, the seer had also targeted the state government over  Srimandir Heritage Corridor Project which is also known as Srimandir Parikrama project.

Hitting hard at the government, he said “I am not against development. Ruining temples and mutts in the name of development is not reasonable. The government will take things seriously when common people lose their trust in it. Before that, it won’t realise the value of the common man.”

Although the existing laws prohibit construction activities in a radius of 100 metres from the ASI-protected and other national monuments, the Odisha government is undertaking construction work near Jagannath temple. This has kicked off a major row in the state.