Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves the Vivekananda Rock Memorial after completing his 45-hour meditation in Kanniyakumari on Saturday. | Photo by Rajesh N
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had been meditating at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial here since last Thursday (May 30) night, left the southern tip of the place at 2.45 pm on Saturday after completing a 45-hour long ‘dhyan’.
At 2:45 pm, PM Modi came out of the meditation hall at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial. Amman Sreepadam Setting off again, he took a ferry to the 133-foot-tall Thiruvalluvar statue on a nearby rock. He paid floral tributes to the 40.60-metre-tall stone statue of Thiruvalluvar, unveiled on January 1, 2000, by the late Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to mark the millennium.
When the ferry ML Vivekananda carrying PM Modi reached the jetty, he was guarded by two Coast Guard vessels, seven Coast Guard speedboats, five mechanised fishing boats hired for strengthening maritime security, one Indian Navy vessel and two Indian Coast Guard helicopters. These floating assets were part of the tight security arrangements made for the PM’s three-day stay on the sea reef.
Before boarding the helicopter at the Tamil Nadu government guesthouse, PM Modi had a brief interaction with management of Vivekananda Kendra, which looks after the maintenance of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial.
That day, PM Modi came out of the meditation hall at 5:50 am to enjoy the sunrise from the rock. However, he was disappointed by the overcast sky. Amman Sreepadam After a short morning walk at the memorial from 6:25 am to 6:45 am, he spent 25 minutes at the Vivekananda Statue Hall and began meditating again at 7:30 am.
Tourists were allowed to visit the Vivekananda Rock Memorial from 8 am on Saturday, but ferry services to the monument were stopped at 11.45 am, three hours before the Prime Minister’s departure from the monument, keeping in mind his safety.
“Security arrangements for a VVIP flying in to attend an election rally or gathering is a different story. As he would be staying here for three days and that too in a coastal area, we had to take all measures to ensure security. Our personnel, who were posted at different points on a rotational basis, proved their mettle despite the humid coastal conditions,” a senior police officer said.
