A boat owner in Bengal’s Hooghly, whose boats were hired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the Ghats, said the Prime Minister gave him a message of “living together amicably”.
Arrangements for seven boats were made in a short time, Muhammad Iftikhar Ahmed told ANI. He said a man working near the ghats asked him for seven boats, without explaining why.
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“He said it was no big deal,” said Iftkar, who later learned that PM Modi was supposed to arrive.
He said that after taking a morning walk, the Prime Minister came to the ghat and took his boat. “The Prime Minister told us that we should live together amicably,” the boat owner was quoted as saying.
Another boatman, Gaurango Biswas from Hooghly, told ANI that the Prime Minister suddenly came, rented the boat and went on a trip. Biswas said the Prime Minister arrived around 7 am.
While the interaction between them was limited, Modi asked his name and hugged him warmly after returning to the beach. He further said that the Prime Minister rode in the car for about an hour, paid $1000, and he took pictures using his camera.
On Friday morning, Prime Minister Modi shared an X-shaped post of himself on a boat on the Hooghly River in Bengal. “This morning in Kolkata, I spent some time on the banks of the Hooghly River – as an opportunity to express my gratitude to Maa Ganga,” he wrote alongside the photos.
He followed this up by posting a series of photos and videos of his time at the river. The Prime Minister said Ganga occupies a “very special” place in the heart of every Bengali and reiterated his commitment towards the development of Bengal.
In the post, the Prime Minister said he also met the morning walkers and boatmen and praised their “relentless hard work.”
His visit to Hooghly comes on the heels of his roadshow from Howrah to Kolkata the previous day. The Prime Minister is actively campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Assembly elections, the first phase of which took place on Thursday.
The second round of elections will be held on April 29, with the votes being counted on May 4.
