MADURAI: After completing two months of gruelling election campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook a 42-hour meditation at Vivekananda Rock in Kanyakumari on Thursday. Modi arrived at the helipad in Kanyakumari from Thiruvananthapuram at around 4.45 pm and proceeded to the State Guest House and then to the Bhagavathi Amman Temple on the coast. The PM offered prayers to Goddess Parvati after which he was presented with a painting of the goddess by the temple authorities. He then took a ferry from Poonpuhar jetty to the Vivekananda Rock. After paying obeisance to the statue of Swami Vivekananda and portraits of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Sharada, Modi began his meditation at the Dhyan Mandapam. The meditation will continue till the afternoon of June 1. The PM had made similar visits to Pratapagarh and Kedarnath at the end of the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha election campaigns. The Prime Minister will meditate at the same spot where Swami Vivekananda meditated for three days in 1892. The rock has a special shrine called Shripada Mandapam where, as per legend, Goddess Parvati meditated for Lord Shiva. This will be the Prime Minister’s ninth visit to Tamil Nadu since January this year. In view of PM Modi’s programme, the tourist-filled rock and Kanyakumari city have been placed under tight security with over 3,000 police personnel deployed in a five-tiered security arrangement. Ships of the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard and patrol boats of the state government’s Coast Guard have been deployed at sea. All fishing activities have been suspended for three days. Ferries ferrying tourists to Vivekananda Rock were operating between 8 am and 10 am. After 12 noon, devotees were not allowed to enter the Bhagavathi temple. Tourists will not be able to visit Vivekananda Rock till Saturday. All tourists entering Kanyakumari town will be screened and vehicles will be thoroughly inspected. Meanwhile, Congress activists led by DCC president K Sankarapandian staged a black flag protest in Tirunelveli on Thursday afternoon condemning the Prime Minister’s visit. In Dindigul city, police detained over 20 Congress activists who staged a black flag protest. The Madurai East district chapter of the VCK staged a similar protest at Kattabomman statue near Periyar bus terminus.
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