Master campaigner Modi tours across 13 states, covering 22,000 km, holding 23 rallies while on Chaitri Navratri fast

Gandhinagar: From Imphal to Junagarh and from Cooch Behar to Calicut, Prime Minister Narendra Modi toured across 13 states holding 23 rallies, covering 22,000 kilometers of crow flight travel distance during Chaitra Navratri.

All this, in temperatures that were often close to 40 degrees Celsius, and as he was fasting.

The Prime Minister is known to keep up a non-stop, hectic schedule at all times. That, in fact, is what his entire tenure of five years, has become synonymous with.

However, even by those high standards, the past few days have been exceptional.

A simple listing of the States visited in the Navratra period alone, is quite revealing. Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bengal, Tripura, Manipur, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Goa, Bihar, Assam, Kerala.

Unlike the case for most political leaders, the Prime Minister’s official work can never stop completely. There are always matters that demand immediate attention.

As a result, mostly, the Prime Minister would return to Delhi after a full day’s campaign of three to four rallies. Very often, Modi would go straight into crucial meetings, which would go on till the wee hours of the morning. After a short nap, it would be back to the campaign trail once again.

Media organizations usually interact extensively with political leaders, during an election. Modi, too, took out time for elaborate discussions and interactions with four media groups, within the Navratra period.

Keeping abreast of developments across the world, the Prime Minister kept up with the essential diplomatic engagements around the world. He congratulated the leadership in Maldives, over phone, for the successful election results. He congratulated President Netanyahu on the successful electoral result in Israel.

He also thanked President Putin and the people of Russia, for receiving the Order of St. Andrew.

DeshGujarat