Puri Shankaracharya Hails Modi Govt’s Move on Article 370, Calls for Revival of Hindu Ideology

Bhubaneswar: The shankaracharya of Govardhan Peeth at Puri, Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, has hailed the government’s move to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

Terming it a “massive blow to the conspiracies of British colonial rulers”, he said the “Hindu ideology” would be revived through such “wise action”.

The Hindu seer heaped praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and President Ram Nath Kovind for passing a resolution in Parliament to abrogate Article 370 that gave special status to the border state.

“Article 370 was made operational on an ad hoc basis during the rule of India’s first prime minister. It was not a permanent feature at that time, but later power-hungry and short-sighted politicians carried out a terrible conspiracy to make it permanent to erase the existence and ideology of Hindus,” said the shankaracharya.

Equating the “existence and ideology” of India to that of Hindus, the seer asserted that it was under constant erosion since the time of British rule and that free India failed to protect it.

The head of the Govardhana Matha said, “I am happy that something I was waiting to see for many years has finally happened with divine blessings… It has come as a massive blow to the conspiracies of the colonial rulers.”

Calling cow slaughter a “blot on independent India” that is allowed to continue “only to appease a certain community,” the shankaracharya said, “I believe that India, by carrying out such decisions (resolution to scrap Article 370) will proceed to protect its whole existence and ideology.”

“The British rulers, with the help of politicians conducive to their conspiracy, had set in motion an environment in the country that would lead to the erosion of the Hindu ideology. To implement the same, an educational system was formulated that led to corruption of brains and hearts of the Hindus,” he added.

The Govardhana Matha or Govardhana Peeth at Puri is considered one of the four cardinal religious centres of Hindus in the country founded in the Eighth Century.