PM Modi bows down, seeks blessings from Padma awardee Purnamasi Jani in Odisha's Kandhamal
The 80-year-old poet and social activist has composed over 50,000 devotional songs in Kui, Odia and Sanskrit, and was awarded the Padma Shri honour in 2021.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (ANI)
ODISHA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday bowed down and sought the blessings of Padma Shri awardee tribal poet Purnamasi Jani during a public meeting in Kandhamal in Odisha.
The 80-year-old poet and social activist has composed over 50,000 devotional songs in Kui, Odia and Sanskrit, and was awarded the Padma Shri honour in 2021.
The Padma Awards, which were instituted in 1954, are one of the highest civilian honours of India and are announced annually on the eve of Republic Day.
A video of the Prime Minister draping a stole on her and bowing down to touch the feet of the poet, who is known as Tadisaru Bai was widely shared on social media platforms. The Prime Minister also paid homage to Narishakti and expressed his gratitude to Tula Bahra Ji, a mother with nothing of her own.
Meanwhile, during his address in Kandhamal, PM Modi challenged chief minister Naveen Babu to name the districts of Odisha and their respective capitals without reference. "If the CM cannot name the districts of the state, will he know your pain?..." Modi asked.
He said that after elections in the state, which is holding simultaneously the elections to Assembly and parliamentary constituencies, "For the first time, there will be a double-engine govt in Odisha."
"India has made up their mind that NDA will cross 400 (in Lok Sabha). The people of Congress must note that the country has now decided that on June 4 they won't get the seats that are needed to be the opposition, they will be limited below 50 seats," PM Modi said.
He also launched an attack on Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, whose comment on Pakistan went viral recently. "Time and again Congress tries to scare its own country. They say 'sambhal ke chalo Pakistan ke pass atom bomb hai'. They talk about Pakistan's bomb, but the condition of Pakistan is such that they don't know how to keep it and they are looking for a buyer to sell their bombs but no one wants to buy them as people know about the quality," PM Modi said.