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Modi offers ‘thulabharam’

For worship: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at the Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple on Monday.

Guruvayur: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, offered “thulabharam” (a ritual in which the devotee submits offerings worth his weight to the deity) with lotus flowers and plantain (“kadalipazham”) at the Sree Krishna temple here. About 90 kg of the flower and the fruit were used.

Mr. Modi arrived here around 10 p.m. on Sunday from the Nedumbassery airport, near Kochi, amid tight security. He stayed at Guruvayur Devaswom’s Sreevalsam Guest House and proceeded to the temple around 4.30 a.m.

He entered the temple after greeting fellow devotees and spent about 30 minutes there. He had “darshan” of the deity after the ritual Usha Naivedyam was performed at the temple.

“Today is auspicious. I greet the people of the country on the occasion of Uttarayan (Makar Sankranti). This is the first time in my life I am staying away from Gujarat during Uttarayan. In Gujarat, the festival is associated with kite-flying. Had I been at home, you would have found me on the terrace flying a kite,” he told presspersons.

He recalled the ties between Kerala and Gujarat. “Being at Guruvayur, I remember Dwaraka in Gujarat, associated with Lord Krishna. When I was the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] organising secretary, I had an occasion to offer puja at Guruvayur. For 10 years, I have not been able to visit the temple,” he said.

Mr. Modi proceeded to Chennai from Guruvayur. He said he had accepted an invitation from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetta Kazhagam leader and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to lunch.

Asked if the meeting had any political significance, he said, “I’ll present the ‘prasad’ from the Guruvayur temple to Ms. Jayalalithaa.”

On the national political scene, Mr. Modi said early elections to the Lok Sabha were unlikely because the Congress was shocked by the BJP’s victory in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

The current political climate was not favourable to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre.

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