PM Modi's role in promoting India's culture as soft power and revival of holy shrines

Since assuming office in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken up various redevelopment initiatives and projects which hold national importance. However, Modi has also played a significant role in removing excesses of the foreign invaders rule. 
He is aware of the role played by sacred Hindu temples in the long and sustained civilizational struggle. 

Since being re-elected to power in 2019, PM Narendra Modi has played an important role in the renovation and rejuvenation of several temples across the country. Here are few of the temple building and restoration efforts taken up by PM Modi: 

Ram Mandir

The Ram Mandir dispute had been going on for years, however, after the Supreme Court gave the judgement in favour of Hindus the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi started making efforts towards the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. PM Modi laid the foundation stone of the Ram temple in August 2020 according to the Hindu culture and rituals. As the people await its completion, the government has already started making efforts towards making the area a Hindu pilgrimage site. 

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Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor 

Varanasi has been the constituency of the Prime Minister since he assumed office in 2014. He started developing infrastructure and redeveloping the Kashi Vishwanath Temple building. Modi conceived the architectural redesigning of the Kashi Vishwanath temple and connecting it with the river Ganga. The idea behind the redevelopment was to preserve heritage structures and connect the temple with Ghats with great visibility. 

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PM Narendra Modi started taking a keen interest in the shaping up of the corridor after laying down the foundation stone of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor on March 8, 2019. The acquisition of the temple was made in a smooth way which made the project litigation free. Furthermore, the demolition of buildings led to the discovery of over 40 ancient temples. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the temple corridor is made in record time and is all set to be inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi on 13 December. 

Somnath temple complex

During his tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi started several projects for the beautification of the temple complex. The efforts paid off as the PM inaugurated an exhibition centre at the Somnath temple complex. Under Prime Minister Modi's chairmanship, Shri Somnath Trust is constantly working for maintaining the Somnath Temple. 

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Kedarnath Temple

As the Kedarnath Temple witnessed widespread devastation due to the floods that occurred in 2013, the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi started working for the redevelopment of the temple. The entire temple has now been restored and it has been completely transformed by PM Modi. Recently, he inaugurated the redeveloped Kedarnath Temple in the presence of Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami. In his address to the people, Modi shared how this project was dear to him and how he monitored the progress of the project even from his office in Delhi. 

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Char Dham Pariyojana/Highway

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also started Char Dham Pariyojana by sanctioning the construction of a modern all-weather Char Dham road network connecting the four pilgrimage sites of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. As part of PM Modi's vision, Char Dham road will provide easy access to the pilgrims visiting the four holy places from across the country. In addition to the road network, the government is also working to make the railway line.

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Temple restoration in Kashmir 

After the abrogation of Article 370, the government started working on the renovation of several religious sites in Srinagar. The government restored the Raghunath Temple in Srinagar and efforts are being made to restore the temples that are not in a good condition.

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Temple construction efforts abroad 

It is not only in India that the Prime Minister is working towards redeveloping and restoring the temples, he has also facilitated the development of temples in other countries. He launched the redevelopment project of Lord Sri Krishna Shreenathji temple in Manama, Bahrain. He also laid the foundation stone of the first-ever Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi in 2018. 

Image: RepublicWorld