PM Modi’s post-election musings: From Kedarnath Caves 2019 to Kanniyakumari Rock-cut Memorial 2024

After launching his campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in Kanniyakumari on March 16 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to undertake a 45-hour meditation retreat at the famous underwater Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Tamil Nadu on May 30. However, this is not the first time the Prime Minister has undertaken a meditation retreat.

Also read: PM Modi meditates at Vivekananda Rock Memorial: Tourists stay away from Kanniyakumari

Modi conducted a similar drill in the Kedarnath caves after the 2019 election campaign. Pahari Dressed in formal attire, PM Modi offered prayers for about 30 minutes and then circumambulated the Kedarnath temple, located at an altitude of 11,755 feet near the Mandakini river. He then entered a cave nearby the temple. Clad in a saffron shawl, PM Modi was seen meditating in the holy cave.

Find out more about the meditation cave here.

Modi spent around 17 hours in a holy cave near the shrine, which has now been designated a “meditation camp” and is known as the “Rudra Caves” and managed by the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN), a state government body.

Media coverage of the visit highlighted the importance Modi places on “spirituality, cultural heritage and his own faith”, and coming so soon after elections, opposition leaders and critics questioned what they called a “political ploy aimed at appealing to religious sentiments to garner votes”.

PM Modi’s Vivekananda Rock Meditation

PM Modi will meditate from the evening of May 30 to the evening of June 1 at the Dhyan Mandapam, the spot where Vivekananda, his much revered spiritual icon, meditated.

The Prime Minister is also likely to offer prayers at the famous Sri Bhagavathi Amman temple in Kanniyakumari. Ahead of his departure on June 1, Modi is likely to visit the 133-feet-tall Thiruvalluvar statue, built for the Tamil poet. The statue complex is located next to the rock memorial.

BJP leaders said the rock where the Prime Minister meditates had a major impact on Vivekananda’s life and holds the same significance in the monk’s life as Sarnath did for Gautama Buddha. Vivekananda reached the rock after wandering across the country, meditated for three days and had a vision of an developed India, they said.

Modi after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections

Modi, who is seeking a third consecutive victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, chose Varanasi as his base a decade ago as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate in 2014. He ended his campaign with a visit to Pratapagarh in Maharashtra, the site of Shivaji’s historic 17th-century victory over the Mughal Empire in a battle that ended the country’s long-running feud with the Indians.

Does meditation violate the MCC?

Legal experts maintain that PM Modi’s meditation camp “does not violate” the silence period that comes into effect 48 hours before the final phase of voting in the Indian Lok Sabha elections, but the Opposition parties have objected, arguing that it is a “violation” of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). Voting for the seventh and final phase of the Indian Lok Sabha elections will take place on May 1. The final phase will see voting in 57 seats in eight states and union territories.

“The chief minister had undertaken a similar meditation in the Kedarnath caves after the 2019 election campaign, which was not in violation of the MCC,” a legal expert said. Ani.

“There is no restriction as long as one does not speak about an area where elections are being held,” another legal expert said. “If, as has been reported, no words have been uttered, it does not appear to be an offence. The commission had given similar permission to the chief minister in the last Lok Sabha elections in 2019, when polls were scheduled in Varanasi,” he said.

(Provided by agency)