Press Club of India stops Modi statue aarti held in rented hall

A group performed an aarti before a statue of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Press Club of India in Central Delhi on Thursday, with videos showing chants of “Jai-Jai Modi” and a recitation of the ‘Modi Chalisa’.

The Press Club said it had not organised the programme. Its hall had been rented by an organisation for a press conference, the club said, but the organisation breached the terms of the booking.

“[W]hen terms for renting out the place were violated by it, the Club authorities immediately intervened and it was stopped,” the Press Club said in a social-media clarification.

The identity of the organisation that hired the hall was not disclosed. The club’s statement places responsibility for the programme outside its own management, while confirming that it was stopped after staff intervened.