Somnath events to run for a year: Amit Shah

Gandhinagar: Just a few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid out his vision for the Somnath temple, Union Minister for Home and Cooperation Amit Shah on Tuesday said Somnath Swabhiman Parv will be celebrated throughout the year as Somnath Swabhiman Varsh.

Shah, who is on a two-day visit to Gujarat, inaugurated developmental works at his home town of Mansa near Gandhinagar. Speaking on the occasion, Shah said Somnath Swabhiman Varsh will be celebrated over the next one year to shake up India’s soul, awaken the consciousness and deepen the roots of Sanatan Dharma. Numerous programmes will be organised in villages across the country till Delhi, he said and urged people to join it.

Shah said Somnath Temple was first destroyed by Mahmud Ghazni, and continued to be demolished by the likes of Alauddin Khalji, Ahmad Shah, Mahmud Begada and Aurangzeb. However, after every effort, it was rebuilt. “They went on breaking it, we went on rebuilding it. Those who broke it believed in breaking it, those who believed in rebuilding it, have rebuilt it.”


“This Somnath temple was reconstructed under a pledge by Sardar Patel, KM Munshi, Jamsaheb and our first president Dr Rajendra Prasad,” Shah said adding that the reason behind the pledge was that “the attack on Somnath was not an attack on a temple, this was attack on our faith, religion and our self-respect…and the answer to that cannot be by a counter but defending the sense of self-respect.”

“Today, after a thousand years and sixteen attacks later, Somnath Temple is standing tall with a saffron flag fluttering over it,” he said. Somnath temple is a symbol of India’s faith and India’s pride, he said.

Later, speaking at BSL-4 Biocontainment Facility at Gandhinagar during the inauguration of the same, Shah said Somnath Temple is a pride of entire Indian people’s spirit of life.