The Kedarnath Temple authority strongly denied and disproved the claims made on social media that the holy place of worship in Uttrakhand’s gold plating is actually only brass. The management has referred to it only as a “conspiracy.”
Following the appearance of a few videos on various social media platforms showing a gold polish being applied to the temple’s interior walls, representatives of the Shri-Badrinath Temple Committee (BKTC) have claimed that this is simply a “conspiracy to malign the shrine.” People connected to the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party also shared the footage.
A senior priest at the Kedarnath Temple claimed that the gold plating of the walls was the result of a multi-million dollar fraud when the videos surfaced. Pandit Santosh Trivedi said that the inside walls of the temple were covered entirely with brass plates despite claims to the opposite and suggested that there may have been a “125 crore” scam involved. He serves as the Teerth Purohit Mahapanchayat’s deputy president as well.
If the scammers were not caught and held accountable for their actions, Trivedi further warned that he would start a fight against them.
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.