The Kedarnath temple management has reacted sharply to claims on social media platforms that the gold plating of the sanctum sanctorum of the famous shrine in Uttarakhand is actually brass. Officials of the Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) termed it a "conspiracy". The controversy erupted after some videos on social media claimed to show gold polish being added to the inner sanctum of the temple. The videos have been shared by users affiliated to the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
The shorts clips show workers inside the sanctum-sanctorum pulling out some tin cans with "gold wash" written on the lids.
Another clip shows workers sitting on parts of gold-plated material and examining it.
NDTV cannot vouch for the authenticity of the videos.
After the videos surfaced, a senior priest of the Kedarnath temple alleged a multi-crore scam in the gold plating of the shrine's inner walls. Priest Santosh Trivedi claimed that the temple's inner sanctum has been covered with brass plates in the name of gold plating and alleged a scam worth "Rs 125 crore".
Mr Trivedi, who is also the vice president of the Teerth Purohit (pilgrimage priest) Mahapanchayat, threatened to launch an agitation if those involved in the alleged scam were not brought to book.
But the temple panel chairman, Ajendra Ajay, said the video was politically motivated and the handiwork of people not happy with the record rise in the number of devotees visiting the Kedarnath temple due to improved facilities created there under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The campaign is part of a vicious political conspiracy to tarnish the image of Kedarnath Dham. It has been hatched by petty politicians who are envious of the record rise in the number of pilgrims visiting Kedarnath over the past couple of years," he said in a statement.
According to panel, the gold plating was done on the wishes of a donor and experts of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) supervised the work.
The temple committee also clarified that the gold-plating was executed by the donor, who had jewellers prepare copper plates as a base for the plating. The donor got these plates installed in the temple through his jewellers.
"The entire work was done by the donor and we had no direct role to play in it," said the temple panel chairman.
According to the committee's statement, official bills and vouchers of the gold and copper plates installed in the sanctum sanctorum by the donor through his goldsmith were given to the temple management and recorded in the stock book, per rules.
No condition was placed before by the donor or any firm for this work done as a donation, nor did the donor ask for a certificate under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act from BKTC, the statement said.
The sanctum sanctorum of Shri Badrinath Temple was also studded with gold in 2005 by the same donor.
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