LUCKNOW: A usual morning turned unusual for 106-year-old Shri Narain alias Bhulai Bhai, a former two-time MLA, who got the surprise of his life when he received a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.
Now a resident of Pagar village in Ramkola block of Kushinagar, Shri Narain got a call from an official of the PMO early on Wednesday morning. It was received by his grandson Kanhaiya. The official told Kanhaiya that the PM wanted to talk to Shri Narain.
As the PM came on the line, he asked the former MLA about his well being. “Is that Shri Narain ji speaking?,” asked the PM to which the centenarian responded “Yes.”
Sources said the PM greeted him saying that he had called him up to enquire about his health and also seek his blessings.
Shri Narain had represented the Naurangiya assembly segment, now known as Khadda, in Kushinagar twice in the UP Assembly. He was a close aide of the Jan Sangh founder Dr Deen Dayal Upadhyay. He has also worked in close association with Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani.
The PM asked the former lawmaker if he had completed a century to which he told Modi that he was 106. The PM expressed his desire to seek his blessings during the present difficult times. To this, the old man said: “Aap yashaswi hon aur jab tak swasthya rahen desh ki sewa karte rahen (May your fame spread far and wide and may you keep serving the nation till your health permits).”
The PM then conveyed his greetings to Shri Narain's entire family which comprises five generations and asked him to take good care of himself. Later, the former MLA said that the PM talked to him for two-and-a-half minutes. “I am grateful to the Prime Minister of the country for talking to me and asking about my well being in these tough times,” said Shri Narain.
Later, talking to the media, he shared his memories of working with PM Modi in Nagpur at the RSS headquarters. “I had met him five decades ago in Nagpur as an RSS worker. He was also active in the sangh pariwar then as a swayamsevak,” he said, adding that he had also met the PM during the last Lok Sabha elections when he had come to Kushinagar for an event.