Prime Minister Narendra Modi has questioned his biological origins, asserting that he is “convinced” of being a godsend, introducing the idea of “immaculate conception” in the electoral arena as voting enters the final phases.

“Pehle jab tak maa zinda thi mujhe lagta tha shayad mujhe biologically janm diya gaya hai. Maa ke jaane ke baad, een saare anubhavon ko mai jod kar dekhta hoon toh mai convince ho chukka hoon ki parmatma ne mujhe bheja hai (Till my mother was alive, I had the impression that perhaps my birth was a biological one. After her demise when I view after assimilating all the experiences, I am convinced that God has sent me),” Modi is heard saying in an interview to News 18 last week.

A portion of the interview has been going viral since Tuesday evening. Modi, 74, was responding to a question on the source of his energy.

In the interview, Modi sought to indicate that the kind of energy he embodies couldn’t have come from a “biological sharir” (biological body) and that God has imparted him with “urja” (energy) because the Almighty wants to get some job done by him, the chosen one.

“Main kuch nahi hoon ek instrument hoon, jo ishwar ne mere roop me mujhse lena tai kiya hai aur isliye main jab bhi kuch karta hoon to manta hoon ishwar mujhse karwana chahta hai (I am nothing, only an instrument through which God has decided to achieve and so whenever I do something I believe that God wants to get it done),” he added.

He said he considered 140 crore countrymen as God and worshipped them since he himself was unable to see God.

Modi spoke about it again on Wednesday in an interview with Hindi news channel News 24. “…Possibly, God only has sent me for some work, for some purpose. And, for the achievement of the purpose, he gives direction, education, ability, energy, inspiration…. Call it ‘daivya shakti’ (divine power) or “ishwariya shakti’ (godly power); all this is not possible without it …,” he said while replying to a similar question on his indomitable energy.

Congress media in-charge Jairam Ramesh termed Modi’s claim an “unprecedented level of delusion and arrogance”, adding that it was a sign of impending defeat.

“The outgoing Prime Minister seems to think he is God. This is an unprecedented level of delusion and arrogance,” Ramesh said in a post on X, attaching the video of the Prime Minister’s interview and BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra’s remark that Lord Jagganath was a devotee of Modi.

Ramesh said the remark by Patra, the BJP candidate from Puri, was not a slip of the tongue but “out of blind devotion to a self-deluded person”.