It turned out to be a special Sunday on the 9th June for hundreds of plantation workers in Harrington Tea Estate in Kotagalla village of Sri Lanka’s Nuwara Eliya district. The day on which Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister for the third time in succession, devotees of Muthumari Amman Temple in the picturesque plantation gathered in large numbers to thank the presiding  deity for his success.

Swami Bhasker Sharma, the chief priest, told the devotees that Modi’s victory in the election is the result of the good deeds done by him and his government during the last ten years. “Modi’s victory is the fall out of the silent prayers from us as he had ordered the construction of 10,000 houses for the plantation workers in Sri Lanka who had no roofs over their heads. He also played a major role in the realization of the Lord Ram Temple at Ayodhya, the aspiration of Hindus across the world,” said Sharma.

Ramaswami Wijayabalan, the owner of Harrington Estate pointed out that Modi was the perfect ambassador of Sri Lankan Tea.

“We were all moved to tears when he pointed out that the Sri Lankan Tea is flavored by the island nation’s salubrious soil and weather and the sweat of the Tamil plantation workers from India. He was the first top leader who acknowledged the role of Tamil workers in the cultivation of Sri Lankan tea,” Wijayabalan told the Pioneer from Nuwara Eliya.

The Harrington Estate is unique because of the presence of Seetha Matha Temple.

 “It is here that the demon king Ravana   who had kidnapped Seetha Matha kept her in captivity. The spot is known as Seetha Eliya and it was from a nearby Thevurum Temple that Seetha did the Agni Pravesh. Former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chauhan had visited the Seetha Matha Temple when the UPA Government was in power in New Delhi.

 Though Chauhan had offered Rs one crore towards the temple, the Congress-led government did not allow it,” said Wijayabalan. The money was meant for the renovation and Maha Kumbhabhishekam of the temple.