Ahad 18 May 2014 05:33 WIB

India's PM-elect Modi offers prayers on banks of Ganges

Narendra Modi
Foto: Reuters/Ahmad Masood
Narendra Modi

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, VARANASI -- India's prime minister-elect Narendra Modi offered prayers on the banks of the river Ganges on Saturday, after making a visit to the sacred city of Varanasi, where he was greeted by thousands of well-wishers.

Modi, flanked by other senior figures from his victorious Bharatiya Janata Party, performed a series of Hindu rituals to seek blessings ahead of his swearing-in, which is expected next week.

As priests and onlookers chanted devotional songs, Modi lit a traditional oil lamp and sat atop a flower-decked dais on the bank of the river, which is worshipped by Hindus as a cleanser of sins.

The ceremony was rich in political symbolism, underlining Modi's roots as a Hindu nationalist even as he promises to govern for all of India, including its religious minorities.

Modi stood for election from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh state, a chaotic city of temples where Hindus consider it auspicious to be cremated. He won by a huge margin of about 370,000 votes.

The polarising four-time chief minister of western Gujarat state was long seen as a right-winger in his party, but presented himself as a centrist economic reformer during the election campaign.

The BJP won the first majority in parliament by a single party for 30 years on Friday, handing Modi a strong mandate for change amid lingering suspicion of him by India's 150 million Muslims.

In 2002, anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat shortly after he came to power in the state left about 1,000 dead and a legacy of suspicion that he did too little to prevent the killing.

The 63-year-old, who has spent his career in pro-Hindu organizations, has always denied wrongdoing and investigators have found no evidence to prosecute him.

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يٰبَنِيْٓ اٰدَمَ لَا يَفْتِنَنَّكُمُ الشَّيْطٰنُ كَمَآ اَخْرَجَ اَبَوَيْكُمْ مِّنَ الْجَنَّةِ يَنْزِعُ عَنْهُمَا لِبَاسَهُمَا لِيُرِيَهُمَا سَوْاٰتِهِمَا ۗاِنَّهٗ يَرٰىكُمْ هُوَ وَقَبِيْلُهٗ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا تَرَوْنَهُمْۗ اِنَّا جَعَلْنَا الشَّيٰطِيْنَ اَوْلِيَاۤءَ لِلَّذِيْنَ لَا يُؤْمِنُوْنَ
Wahai anak cucu Adam! Janganlah sampai kamu tertipu oleh setan sebagaimana halnya dia (setan) telah mengeluarkan ibu bapakmu dari surga, dengan menanggalkan pakaian keduanya untuk memperlihatkan aurat keduanya. Sesungguhnya dia dan pengikutnya dapat melihat kamu dari suatu tempat yang kamu tidak bisa melihat mereka. Sesungguhnya Kami telah menjadikan setan-setan itu pemimpin bagi orang-orang yang tidak beriman.

(QS. Al-A'raf ayat 27)

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