PM offers prayers at holy Kedarnath temple

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the Kedarnath temple and performed 'aarti' at the holy shrine on Friday morning.</p>
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He landed in Dehradun, Uttarakhand and soon left for Kedarnath to offer prayers at the Shiva temple there. This is his fifth visit to the temple as Prime Minister.</p>
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PM Modi also laid the foundation stone of Kedarpuri reconstruction projects worth over Rs 400 crore. This visit by PM Modi is significant as he had taken the initiative to rebuild Kedarnath after the devastating floods in 2013.</p>
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PM Modi also visited the Himalayan shrine near the Mandakini river, where he inaugurated the rebuilt samadhi of Shankaracharya which was damaged in the 2013 deluge and a slew of other projects.</p>
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Prime Minister Modi also unveil a statue of Adi Guru Shankaracharya, the 8th-century seer who had attained Moksha at Kedarnath. The unveiling of his 12-feet statue was streamed live at the 12 jyotirlingas, four Shankaracharya mutts (monasteries), his birthplace and several prominent temples across the country. Along with this, Saraswati Ghat, the residence of the pilgrimage priests will also be inaugurated.</p>
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Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, "It is a proud moment for us. The prime minister has done things in Kedarnath which no one even thought of doing for hundreds of years."</p>