With the conclusion of campaigning for the final phase of the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi commenced a 45-hour meditation session at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari on Thursday. Upon arriving in the evening, Modi first offered prayers at the Bhagavathy Amman Temple before proceeding to the memorial.
Modi’s meditation at Dhyan Mandapam, where Swami Vivekananda is believed to have had a divine vision of ‘Bharat Mata,’ will last from Thursday evening until the evening of June 1. Due to his visit, security has been heightened with 2,000 police personnel deployed, and the Indian Coast Guard and Navy maintaining a strict vigil. The beach is closed to tourists from Thursday to Saturday, and private boats are prohibited from operating, as reported by PTI.
This is not the first time Modi has taken such a break following election campaigns. In 2014, he visited Pratapgarh, known for the battle between Shivaji’s Maratha forces and General Afzal Khan’s Bijapur troops, and in 2019, he became the first person to meditate in a special cave in Kedarnath.
Modi’s visit to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial has met with opposition from the Congress party. The party claims Modi’s 48-hour meditation in Kanyakumari violates the silence period restrictions and has filed a formal complaint with the Election Commission, urging that the visit should not be broadcasted by the media as it breaches the model code of conduct. Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that Modi’s meditation is essentially a form of campaigning or self-publicity.
The campaigning for the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections, covering 57 seats in seven states and the Union territory of Chandigarh, concluded on Thursday evening. Polling is set for June 1 in all 13 seats of Punjab, four in Himachal Pradesh, 13 in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha, three in Jharkhand, and Chandigarh. Modi is aiming for a third consecutive term representing Varanasi.
Since the election schedule was announced on March 16, Modi has participated in 206 public outreach events, including rallies and roadshows, significantly surpassing his 145 engagements during the 2019 elections. The campaign period this year lasted 76 days, compared to 68 days in the previous polls.
