This spiritual journey has also sparked political debate.
Kanyakumari:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in Kanniyakumari and will meditate at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial from this evening till Saturday evening.
The Prime Minister will meditate at Dhyan Mandapam, the same place where Hindu philosopher and saint Swami Vivekananda meditated in 1892 to gain a clear vision of India’s future.
It is also where the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea meet, and BJP leaders said Kanniyakumari’s election sends a signal of national unity.
More than 2,000 police officers have been deployed around the monument to ensure the prime minister’s safety, while the coast guard and navy will also be on alert.
Campaigning for the final phase of India’s Lok Sabha elections ended at 5 pm today and the Prime Minister had also undertaken a spiritual journey, meditating in a cave, as the silent period before the final phase of the 2019 elections began.
The Prime Minister’s meditation plans have also sparked a political controversy. The Indian National Congress yesterday approached the Election Commission to prevent the Prime Minister’s meditation footage from being broadcast in the media as it violates the Model Code of Conduct, alleging that the Prime Minister is trying to “circumvent” the restrictions on the silence period. A delegation of Indian National Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala, Abhishek Singhvi and Syed Nasir Hussain submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission.
The Tamil Nadu unit of the CPM also wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner, urging him to ban the telecast of the footage of Modi meditating as it could be “propaganda material” and go against the objective of the silence period and the concept of a level playing field. The party said meditation is a private act and alleged that in this case there was an implicit attempt to influence voters.
Addressing the crowd at a roadshow in Kolkata today, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the Prime Minister and said, “The Chief Minister’s chair is precious and it is a constitutional responsibility. They are not minding it. Every time before the counting of votes, the Prime Minister sits somewhere for 48 hours for publicity. He may meditate but why in front of the cameras?”
The BJP hit back, saying the Indian Union’s opposition to the PM’s meditation plan betrayed an “anti-Sanatan mindset”.
“If someone says he wants to go meditate, even when the election campaign will end on May 30, because he has taken inspiration from Swami Vivekananda, why is the Congress calling it a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC)?” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla told ANI.
“It is due to the anti-Hindu stance of the BJP. Parties like the BJP are also against Swami Vivekananda. Rahul Gandhi often travels abroad for meditation and people say he can go to religious centres abroad and no one can stop him,” he added.
(Provided by agency)
