'Does Anyone Get Cameras For Meditation': Mamata To Complain To EC If Modi's Kanyakumari Trip Televised

PM Modi is scheduled to meditate at the Rock Memorial, a monument built in tribute to Swami Vivekananda, in Kerala's Kanyakumari following the culmination of the Lok Sabha polls campaign on May 30.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said her party Trinamool Congress (TMC) will complain to the Election Commission if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meditation in Kanyakumari is televised over alleged violation of the election Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

She also took a jibe at the prime minister asking if anyone has to get cameras for doing meditation.

PM Modi is scheduled to meditate at the Rock Memorial, a monument built in tribute to Swami Vivekananda, in Kerala's Kanyakumari following the culmination of the Lok Sabha polls campaign on May 30.

"We will complain. He can meditate, but it cannot be aired on television," she said, claiming that this will amount to violation of the MCC. 

"Does anyone have to get cameras for doing meditation?" she asked, adding that it was a way of canvassing during the silence period between the end of the campaign and the poll date.

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi also claimed that PM Modi's meditation on May 30 is a violation of the MCC and added the party has complained regarding it.  

"The PM will start his meditation from the evening of May 30 and we have complained about that. We all know that the silence period will begin from May 30 and thus his declaration is a violation of the MCC. The PM can start his meditation after 24-48 hours, which is from the evening of June 1. Otherwise, if he wants to meditate from May 30, then the ECI should ensure that this is not broadcast by the TV or print media," Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said after leading a party delegation to meet the ECI.

According to BJP leaders, PM Modi will meditate from May 30 evening to June 1 evening at Dhyana Mandapam, the place where Vivekananda is believed to have had a divine vision about 'Bharat Mata'.

Speaking at an election meeting on the same ground where the PM held a rally on Tuesday in favour of Jadavpur constituency's BJP candidate, Mamata claimed that the PM goes into meditation for 48 hours before the final phase of polling in every election.

"The Prime Minister had undertaken a similar meditation exercise in a Kedarnath cave after the 2019 election campaign. If they (BJP) return to power this time, there won't be any political party, elections, independence, religion, humanity or culture," she said, according to PTI.

The TMC supremo sought to dismiss Modi's claim that the BJP will achieve the best results in Bengal this election, asserting, "This means they have lost; they will get rosogolla (zero) in Bengal."

She said the TMC will support the opposition INDIA alliance in forming a government in Delhi and urged the people not to vote for the CPI(M) or Congress in Bengal as "it will help the BJP."

Accusing the Mamata Banerjee government of appeasement politics, PM Modi, addressing a poll meeting earlier in the day in Kakdwip, said, "Reservations were looted in West Bengal and false OBC certificates were issued to Muslims."

He also claimed that the TMC was misleading Muslims by spreading false information regarding the court's verdict. Accusing the BJP of embarking on a slander campaign against the TMC, Banerjee claimed that her party has had to fight against Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),  Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax (IT).