Overview
- Arriving on January 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in Omkar mantra chanting at Somnath and watched a choreographed light show over the Arabian Sea.
- Modi, as chair of the Shree Somnath Trust, presided over a meeting that reviewed infrastructure upgrades to improve the pilgrimage experience.
- Around 3,000 BotLab drones formed 3D images of the temple, Lord Shiva and a shivling, and depicted historic assaults and figures including Sardar Patel and Veer Hamirji Gohil.
- Thousands of devotees packed the temple precincts late into the night on Saturday as fireworks, decorations and continuous chanting drew unusually large crowds.
- BJP leaders held special prayers at Shiva temples across states, and Karnataka party figures repeated a contested claim that Jawaharlal Nehru opposed the 1951 reconstruction; on January 11 the PM is scheduled to join a Shaurya Yatra before departing for other engagements in Gujarat.