Prime Minister Narendra Modi lit a lamp after turning off all lights at his residence on Sunday night and joined the country in an expression of collective resolve to fight and defeat COVID-19.
The Prime Minister, while with lighting the lamp, gave an important yet subtle message of national integration as he wore a lungi from the South, Asam's Gamocha from the northeast and a half-sleeved kurta worn in different parts of the country including the north.
The Prime Minister had appealed to people to turn off lights in their homes at 9 pm on Sunday and stand at doors or in balconies and light candles or diyas or use torches or mobile flashlights for nine minutes drew.
His appeal drew enthusiastic response from people who spread light to remove darkness spread by coronavirus crisis while observing social distancing norms also.
The Prime Minister, who was wearing a light-blue kurta, shared four photos on his twitter handled which showed him carrying a small lamp from his residence and lighting the bigger lamp.
He also tweeted a Sanskrit shloka which means: "Salutations to the light of the lamp which brings auspiciousness, health, and prosperity, which destroys inimical feelings; salutations to the light of the lamp."
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The Prime Minister, in a video message on Friday, had appealed to citizens to together challenge the darkness spread by the coronavirus crisis and take their collective resolve to defeat it to greater heights.
Union ministers also joined the expression of mass solidarity.
"Two diyas - one for me and the other for my 88 year old mother who could not be at the door. Joining an expression of mass solidarity. India stands united as never before. Jai Hind 9pm9minute," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted along with a picture.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lit lamps at their houses.
"At home, 9 pm: lighting diyas for some moments of mindfulness and thinking of our community, even as we work day and night as one nation," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted.