“Conspiracy”: Kedarnath temple officials on ‘gold turning into brass’

The Kedarnath Temple management has strongly denied and invalidated the claims on social media that the gold plating of the holy place of worship in Uttrakhand is just brass. The management has called it nothing but a ‘conspiracy’.

Officials of the Shri-Badrinath Temple Committee (BKTC) have stated that this is just a ‘conspiracy to malign the shrine’ after a few videos on various social media platforms showed a gold polish being added to the inside walls of the temple. The videos were also shared by people affiliated with Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress.

After the videos surfaced, a senior priest at the Kedarnath Temple alleged a multi-crore scam in the gold plating of the walls. Pandit Santosh Trivedi claimed that the inner walls of the temple have been covered with only brass plates by claiming that it is gold plated and alleged a scam that could be worth ‘₹125 crores’. He is also the vice president of the Teerth Purohit Mahapanchayat.

Trivedi also claimed to launch an agitation against those involved in the scam if they were not caught and punished for their deeds.

Meanwhile, the temple panel chairman, Ajendra Ajay said that the motive behind such videos is politically motivated. He said in a statement, “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 also added that the entire work of gold plating was done on the wishes of a donor and the whole process was supervised by experts of the Archaeological Survey of India.

According to the committee’s statement, the donor did not ask for a certificate under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act from the BKTC. It also said that official bills of the gold and copper installed in the inner walls by the donor were also available to the temple management and recorded in the books.