Union Finance Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nirmala Sitharaman has hit out at the Opposition for playing politics over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kanniyakumari for meditation, saying that the Congress leaders rather choose to vacation in Thailand or at undisclosed locations.
In an exclusive interview with CNN-News18, Sitharaman said it was a “negative campaign” undertaken by the Opposition. “People who are self-appointed liberals are against somebody who wants to keep silence. If the PM talks, you have an objection. He wants to keep maun (silent), you have an objection,” Sitharaman told CNN-News18.
The Prime Minister will be reaching Kanniyakumari on the evening of May 30 to hold a meditation session till June 1 at the Vivekanada Rock memorial. The Congress has approached the Election Commission of India to stop any telecast of the session.
“None of the Congress leaders ever take pride in associating themselves with places of historic, cultural, or religious significance for India, in India. They rather go for a vacation to Thailand and somewhere undisclosed. I’d rather prefer them going and doing such meditation and take the energy from these places, because these are so essentially Indian,” the Union Finance Minister said.
When asked why the PM chose to go to Vivekanada Rock Memorial, Sitharaman explained that the election campaign has been hectic and long-drawn, with PM Modi not just campaigning but also addressing the national and regional media in numerous interviews. “For someone who has done this, after the campaign is over and silence period comes in, he is doing his meditation and that too in silence. He is not speaking or addressing sessions. He is just meditating,” Sitharaman said.
She said the Congress opposition was consistent with their only position – “oppose everything that the Prime Minister does.” “You are so centric on that one persona – your campaign begins and ends at that. It shows clearly who actually is attracting conversation, the political narrative is around the PM, and rightly so, because he is a performing Prime Minister. They don’t have a story of their own. They have nothing constructive to offer to the country,” Sitharaman added.
The Finance Minister told CNN-News18 that the PM has a close association with the Ramakrishna Math and great respect for Swami Vivekananda. “It is believed in Tamil Nadu that Goddess Kanniyakumari, after which the city and district are named, did tapasya on that rock. The impression of her holy feet are there on that rock,” Sitharaman explained.
“It has so much importance. It is one of the most visited place these days and has so much sanctity. Therefore, it is appropriate for the PM to go after this hectic campaign to be with himself and meditate at a place which has so much significance for him and for the entire country. Why does the opposition want to grudge that,” the Finance Minister asked.
She also said that the rock memorial was built with the help of the RSS and Eknath Ramakrishna Ranade had spoken to Lal Bahadur Shastri for this. “It is a sacred piece of rock associated with Goddess Kanniyakumari, and then Swami Vivekananda did tapasya there before he went to Chicago,” the senior BJP leader told CNN-News18.
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