When Assam celebrated Magh Bihu, almost entire country celebrated one or the other post-harvest festival on Tuesday.
Commemorating the festive spirit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple sitatued in Thiruvananthapuram of Kerala.
Modi took to Twitter to tell the countrymen about his venture.
In his official Twitter handle Modi wrote:
‘Prayed for the development of India and the peace and happiness of 130 crore Indians at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.’
Prayed for the development of India and the peace and happiness of 130 crore Indians at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple. pic.twitter.com/a9PvVY5sDQ
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 15, 2019
It is nothing new that Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits temples and pays obeisance on special occasions or otherwise.
But this visit has some special significance attached to it particularly pertaining to the State of Assam.
A closer look at the pictures in his tweet will tell that Modi was doning an Assamese ‘gamosa’ around his neck during his visit to the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple on Tuesday.
At a time when the entire state of Assam is on the boil over the citizenship bill issue with protests directed against Modi, the Prime Minister doning the gamosa assumes much significance.
However, this is not the first time that Modi had sported the gamosa around his neck.
During the International Yoga Day last year, the Prime Minister was seen joining the mass yoga in New Delhi with a gamosa around his neck.
But the act on Tuesday during his visit to the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is viewed as a way of connecting with Assam when he is at the wrong side of the firing range.
Was it an deliberate attempt on Modi’s part to obliquely exhibit his affinity to the state of Assam and trying to rekindle the lost sheen?
The Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple located in Thiruvananthapuram of Kerala was built in an intricate fusion of the indigenous Kerala style and the Tamil kovil style of architecture associated with the temples located in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, featuring high walls, and a 16th-century Gopuram.
While the Moolasthanam of the temple is the Ananthapuram Temple in Kumbala in Kasargod district, architecturally to some extent, the temple is a replica of the Adikesava Perumal temple located in Thiruvattar of Kanyakumari district.