ANI/Reuters
Prime Minister Narendra Modi meditated at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial on Friday, May 31, 2024.
CNN
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meditating for two days at an island shrine as he caps off weeks of election campaigning, his latest public declaration of faith just days after declaring himself a divine messenger.
India’s elections are the world’s biggest and a grand experiment in democracy that has been running for six weeks. The final day of voting is on Saturday, with results announced in three days.
According to India’s state-run broadcaster DD News, Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit the Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari, India’s southernmost pilgrimage site, from May 30 to June 1.
This is the place where famous Hindu monk and philosopher Swami Vivekananda attained enlightenment.
Modi has twice meditated at the end of election campaigns, but in recent days he has become increasingly vocal about his faith as he seeks to tap into Hindu nationalist sentiment as he seeks a third consecutive five-year term in power.
“I am convinced that God has sent me for a purpose and once that purpose is achieved, my work will be done,” Modi said in an interview with local news channel NDTV last week.
“God doesn’t reveal his cards, he just keeps making me do things,” he continued.
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The Vivekananda Rock Memorial was built in 1970 to commemorate Swami Vivekananda, who is said to have attained enlightenment on this rock.
India is constitutionally mandated to be secular, but since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have promoted an hardline Hindu nationalist agenda, deepening religious divisions.
When he first ran for national elections a decade ago, Modi chose Varanasi, India’s religious capital, as his constituency, making the ancient city the perfect stage to blend his religious and political ambitions.
The tour ended with Modi visiting Pratapagad in western Maharashtra state, where the Hindu-led Maratha army won a historic battle against the Mughals in the 17th century.
Following his victory in the 2019 general election, Prime Minister Modi meditated at Kedarnath Temple, dedicated to the Hindu god Lord Shiva, high in the Himalayas.
In January, just months before the election campaign began, Modi consecrated the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a controversial Hindu temple built on the site of a destroyed mosque, assuming a role usually reserved for priests.
Critics say Modi’s brandishing of Hinduism has fuelled Islamophobia and led to the persecution of the country’s more than 200 million Muslims in a country where about 80 percent of the population practices polytheism.
Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party have increasingly used explicitly Islamophobic language in recent election speeches. In a controversial speech last month, Modi said that if the opposition wins, he will distribute the country’s wealth to “infiltrators” and “those who have many children,” an apparent reference to the Muslim community.
