The tale of farmer’s pheran gift to Modi
On a day when he addressed a poll rally in Kashmir, PM Narendra Modi shared a video story of a gift he received a few years ago from a farmer in the Valley. At the centre of the story is Irshad Hussain Naikoo, a farm labourer from Anantnag, who had wished to meet Modi since 2013.
The video shared by the PMO shows Naikoo speaking fondly of how financial hardships apart, he began saving money to buy a gift for the PM before going to Delhi to see him.
“After a few years of saving, I decided to get a pheran stitched for the PM and, unaware of his measurements, I resolved to go by the measurements of my father, whose build is like that of the PM. Once the outfit was ready, I went to Delhi to deliver the gift, but was unable to enter the PM’s residence due to security reasons. So I returned to Kashmir and couriered the present,” Naikoo says. A few days later, he received a phone call from the PMO.
“I remember enclosing a letter with my address and phone number along with the present. The call was from the PMO. The official told me the PM was in Kashmir and was addressing a rally wearing the same pheran I had gifted him. I could hardly believe what I heard. The PM was wearing the gift I had sent! I was overjoyed to see my favourite person wearing my present. He has done so much for the poor. I want the same scale of development for Kashmir as the PM brought to Gujarat,” Naikoo says in the video.
