'First election of my life when ...': PM Modi gets emotional remembering his mother

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday became emotional while discussing his late mother , Heeraben Modi , who passed away in 2022 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat .

The ongoing Lok Sabha elections are the first time since 2002 that the Prime Minister is running for office without his mother, whom he would visit before submitting nominations or after winning elections.

In an interview with Times Now, PM Modi discussed the relationship he had with his mother and the two promises he made to Heeraben when the Bharatiya Janata Party selected him as Gujarat's chief minister in 2001.

"This is the first election of my life when I will go to file nomination without touching my mother's feet," said PM Modi, visibly emotional.

"But a feeling also comes to mind that today, in a country of 140 crore Indians, millions of mothers the way they have loved me, blessed me (Prime Minister gets emotional). By remembering them and then there is Ma Ganga," he continued after a lengthy pause.

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PM Modi also shared the promises he made to his mother after being chosen to lead Gujarat as chief minister. He said, "When I went to Gujarat (to be the CM) after working for the BJP at the national level, it gave my mother immense joy. That day she told me - dekh bhai, promise me you will work for the welfare of the poor and secondly, never take a bribe".

The Prime Minister reflected on the hardships and sacrifices Heeraben endured, stating that they motivated him to develop welfare programs for women and the underprivileged. "The question is not just about my mother. My mother gave birth to me, brought me up, but I feel I have not done enough justice with my mother... because the dreams that a mother has from her child, I have not fulfilled any such dream," he said.

Prime Minister Modi is expected to submit his nomination from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi seat in the third week of May, with the constituency going to the polls on June 1 in the seventh phase.