After mocking gold hunt at UP fort, Narendra Modi praises seer Shobhan Sarkar

Days after mocking the hunt for gold at a fort in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Monday expressed his regard for the seer who dreamt of treasure at the excavation site.

"Sant Shobhan Sarkar ke prati anek varsho se lakho logo ki shraddha judi hui hai. Main unki tapasya aur tyag ko pranam karta hu (lakhs of people have reposed faith in seer Shobhan Sarkar over last many years. I salute his austerity and renunciation)," Modi said in a tweet.

Narendra Modi does a u-turn on seer. File Pic

Stressing on the need of getting back black money stashed away abroad, Modi demanded that the Centre should come out with a white paper on it.

"Bharat sarkar se agrah karta hu ki woh videsho mein jama kale dhan ke sambandh main ek white paper prastut kar desh ki janta ko ashwast kare (I urge the Indian government to come out with white paper on black money deposited in other countries and assure the people of the nation)," Modi said in the second tweet.

Modi's reconciliatory tone is being seen as a result of a reported letter written by followers of Sarkar castigating him on his remarks criticising government's action of digging a temple fort premises in Unnao district of UP based on the seer's dreams.

Modi at the rally hadu00a0criticised the central government for ordering the excavation at the ruins of Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh's fort near Daundia Kheda village following the seer's dream. Addressing the rally in Chennai on Friday, Modi had said, "The whole world is laughing at us over this bizarre exercise.u00a0

"Somebody dreamt and the government has launched an excavation...The money hidden by thieves and looters of India in foreign banks is much more than 1000 tonnes of gold. If you (government) bring back that money, you won't have to do digging for gold (in Unnao)," Modi had said.

The central government has, however, clarified that they have not told the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to go ahead for gold hunt based on vision of seer Shobhan Sarkar.