NEW YORK: Americans are wondering why Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not eat when US President Barack Obama hosts a dinner in his honour in Washington on Monday. Very few know that Mr Modi will be observing the ‘Navaratri’ fast when he shares the dinner table with the high and the mighty of the American administration. So the dinner plate of the main guest (Mr Modi) will be empty.
According to the White House, Mr Modi observing the ‘Navaratri’ fast was not at all an issue with the American administration as it respectfully accommodated the practices of visitors. “We are aware of the Prime Minister’s plans to fast during his visit to Washington. As with all guests hosted by US Presidents over the years, we always work to respectfully accommodate the practices
of our visitors,” said spokesperson for the National Security Council Caitlin Hayden.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin also stated, “It is normal diplomatic practice that when we discuss any engagement which may entail any meal or any other food… for the host to request and for the guest, that is the Indian side, to indicate what are the dietary preferences.” He said those dietary preferences had been indicated to the US side and it had taken note of it and prepared everything accordingly.
Mr Modi, who is a devotee of goddess Durga and a strict vegetarian, follows the strictest form of abstinence. Since the 1970s, he has observed water-only fasts. In a blog in 2012, he wrote: “Yes, I have been fasting during Navratri for over 35 years now. This fast is never to seek anything but an act of self-purification. Fasts such as this have been a source of strength, power and inspiration for me over the last many years.”
(AGENCIES)
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