Ma Ganga has called me to Varanasi, says Narendra Modi

For three hours, Varanasi danced, cheered, and showered rose petals as Narendra Modi rode an open truck in the biggest road-show in the world's largest election. Conch shells rang through the air, mixed with slogans shouting support for the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. In sweltering heat, hundreds of thousands of people lined the two-km journey. Before he filed his nomination papers, he said, "I feel as if the BJP has not sent me here...but Ma Ganga has summoned me. I pray for strength so that I can serve this city." (Read more)