"Why is he doing this drama?": Bhupesh Baghel on PM Modi's 45-hour-long meditation in Kanyakumari

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], May 31 : Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 45-hour-long meditation in Kanyakumari, former Chhattisgarh CM and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel alleged on Thursday that he had gone to Kanyakumari to influence the voters ahead of the polling in the seventh phase of the elections.
"One who is not an ordinary person and sent by God, what is the need for him to remember God? Kangana Ranaut and Sambit Patra made him God...Why is he doing this drama?" said Baghel.
He also advised PM Modi to conduct the meditation out of the media glare.
"PM Narendra Modi has gone to Kanyakumari to get more publicity. When leaders like Dharmendra Pradhan of Orissa, Sambit Patra, and Kangana Ranaut are comparing him to God, then what was the need for him to go to Kanyakumari? PM Modi should have conducted the meditation out of the media glare," said the former CM of Chhattisgarh.
Notably, in the 2019 Lok Sabha election too, PM Modi took a similar trip to the Kedarnath shrine before the final phase of the elections and meditated at a cave.
Baghel further alleged that throughout the campaign, the BJP kept discussing about the Congress manifesto.
"Throughout the campaigning, the BJP did not discuss anything about their manifesto. They kept discussing the Congress and INDIA bloc agendas. When our manifesto was released, they kept talking about the Muslim League, Mangalsutra, Pakistan, and then spoke about Mujra. Prime Minister Narendra has lost his senses," said the Congress leader.
He hit out at the Agniveer scheme and said that even a sarpanch of a village is elected for 5 years.
"Even the sarpanch of a panchayat is elected for 5 years, but under the Agniveer scheme, the soldiers are being retired in 4 years and that too for someone who is serving the country," said Baghel.
The Congress has filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day meditation retreat in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari from Thursday to Saturday would violate the '48-hour silence period provision' of the Model Code of Conduct ahead of the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha polling.
The campaigning for the seventh phase of polling was over on Thursday.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday offered prayers at Bhagavathy Amman Temple in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, after the culmination of the Lok Sabha election campaign.
The Prime Minister was seen wearing a 'dhoti' and covering his upper body with an off-white coloured shawl.
PM Modi will meditate from May 30 evening to June 1 evening at the same place where Swami Vivekanand did meditation, the Dhyan Mandapam.