‘Having attained nirvana, Maa Heeraben will always inspire’: Times Group’s Samir Jain on Modi’s mother

Prime minister Narendra Modi lost his mother on December 30. She was 100 years old. 

In “The Speaking Tree” column of the Times of India today, Times Group managing director Samir Jain wrote a tribute to Modi’s mother, saying “she transcended attachment and attained nirvana”.

“I never had the good fortune of meeting Heeraben,” Jain wrote, “but when I met the Prime Minister a few weeks ago, the reverence and affection he expressed for her during our meeting gave me a vivid glimpse into Heeraben’s remarkable and extraordinary personality.”

He also applauded Modi for returning to work soon after his mother’s passing.

“...the Prime Minister, after performing her last rites and fulfilling his dharma as a son, immediately returned to his duties,” he wrote. “His decision to do so might have surprised many, but this was a son’s quiet and dignified way of expressing love and respect for his mother.”

According to Jain, Modi’s “commitment to duty has always been his foremost priority”. He cited the renaming of Rajpath to Kartavya Path as “an exhortation to the citizens to do their duty to the nation, a path Modiji has followed”.

In November, Jain had praised home minister Amit Shah for “blooming many lotuses” and being “full of energy”, and said he hoped Shah and Modi would construct a “maha Akhand Bharat”. Read all about it here.