Prime Minister Narendra Modi intends to conclude his campaign for the Lok Sabha in 2024 with a 48-hour meditation retreat in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, following the custom of going on spiritual pilgrimages at the conclusion of national election cycles.
The PM paid a visit to Pratapgad, Maharashtra, in 2014. It was there that Shivaji’s Maratha forces achieved their first significant military victory, beating Afzal Khan’s Bijapur forces in 1659.
Modi was widely photographed wearing saffron attire after meditating at Rudra Cave, which is close to the Kedarnath shrine in Uttarakhand, on the final day of the 2019 campaign.
This time, the Prime Minister—who is aiming for an unprecedented third term in office—will travel to Kanyakumari starting on May 30, the day the seventh and last round of the Lok Sabha election campaign comes to a close. In the same spot where Swami Vivekananda meditated, he will arrive to Vivekananda Rock Memorial and spend nearly 48 hours there, from the evening of May 30 to the evening of June 1. Situated in the middle of the sea, the Rock Memorial is next to the statue of Thiruvalluvar, a Tamil saint.
The influence of this rock on Swami Vivekananda’s life was profound. There is a belief that, much like Sarnath was significant to Gautam Buddha, Kanyakumari’s rock was significant to Swami Vivekananda.
