Modi: Kashi has seen Sultanates rise & fall, is a symbol of India's soul

Varanasi: After a dip in the Ganga and rituals inside the temple, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor that connects the temple to the banks of the river, terming it a "symbol of Sanatan culture of India" and placing it at the centre of the sacred geography of the country.

In a speech after inaugurating the Kashi Vishwanath Dham, which has renovated and expanded the temple's premises, Modi said India is now stepping out of the influence and "inferiority" complex brought on it by centuries of slavery and asserted that the new corridor will give a decisive direction to the country and lead it to a bright future.

A new history is being created, he said, asserting that if an Aurangzeb came, a Shivaji also rose and if a Salar Masud, a Muslim invader, marched, then a Raja Suheldev took him on. Modi dwelt at length about the glory of the city's heritage and noted that it withstood attempts to destroy it by the likes of Mughal king Aurangzeb, Muslim invader Salar Masud and Warren Hastings, British Governor-General in India.

Sultanates rose and fell but Benaras remained, he said, often referring to the city with its different names, including Kashi.

"Tyrants attacked this city, tried to destroy it. History is witness to Aurangzeb's atrocities, his terror. He tried to change civilisation with the sword. He tried to crush culture with fanaticism.

"'But the soil of this country is different from the rest of the world. Here if an Aurangzeb comes, a Shivaji also rises," Modi said, while raising the chant of 'Har Har Mahadev', associated with Lord Shiva, several times.

"See how the time changes. Today, those synonymous with terror have been consigned to the black pages of history while my Kashi marches ahead and is writing a new chapter of its glory," the Prime Minister said, adding that whenever the city has taken a turn, the country's fate has also changed.

Many historians believe that Aurangzeb had ordered pulling down the temple to build a mosque. Modi also lauded Rani Ahilyabai for rebuilding the temple and Sikh king Ranjit Singh for gold plating its domes.

After taking a dip at Lalita Ghat, he made his way up a red carpet to the newly constructed corridor, carrying a vessel of water from the holy river as an offering. After the rituals, Modi had a photo-op with construction workers who had worked on the project, where he showered flower petals on them.

Modi said the whole new complex of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham is not just a grand building, but a symbol of the "Sanatan culture" of India, its spiritual soul antiquity and traditions.

If India is building Ram Temple, Kashi Vishwanath Dham, it is also laying down thousands of kilometres of optical fibres in sea, building millions of houses for the poor and is working to send people to space, Modi said.

He also noted the work done on Buddhist and Sikh pilgrimage centres among others. "The new India has heritage as well as development. It is not only proud of its culture but has equal belief in its capabilities," he said.

Prime Minister Modi also urged people to commit themselves to 'swachhta' (cleanliness), 'srijan' (creation and innovation) and continuous efforts for 'aatmanirbhar' (self-reliant) India.

The Prime Minister said cleanliness is a way of life and called for people's participation in this enterprise, especially in the Namami Gange Mission.

Underlining that the long period of slavery "broke our confidence in such a way that we lost faith in our creation", Modi said: "Today, from this thousand-year-old Kashi, I call

upon every countryman — create with full

confidence, innovate."

He said that the third resolution that needs to be taken is to raise efforts for a self-reliant India.

"In this Amrit Kaal', in the 75th year of independence, we will have to work for what India will be like when India celebrates a hundred years of independence," he said.

He noted that earlier the Kashi Vishwanath temple area was only 3000 square feet which has now enlarged to about 5 lakh square feet. Now 50,000-75,000 devotees can visit the temple and its premises.