Saira Banu recalls 'kindness, compassion' PM Modi extended at time of Dilip Kumar's demise

Mumbai, Sep 17 (IANS) Veteran actress Saira Banu has extended warm birthday greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 75th birthday and recalled a deeply personal gesture of kindness he showed her after the passing of her husband, legendary actor Dilip Kumar.

Saira took to Instagram, where she shared a picture with the iconic leader.

“A very Happy Birthday to our esteemed Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji. On this occasion I want to recall the kindness and compassion he extended at a time of my greatest despair,” she wrote.

Sharing her memory, Saira Banu said: “When my beloved Dilip Sahib departed from this world, I was overcome with sorrow so profound that I could scarcely summon the will to endure. In that dark hour, his consoling voice reached me with words of such tenderness, “Aap apne aap ko sambhaliye, aur ek baat jaan lijiye ki hum aapke parivaar hain”, that they revived my spirit when it was most near to faltering.”

She further recalled how, in the months that followed, an opportunity was arranged for her to meet the Prime Minister during his visit to Mumbai, but her health did not permit.

“In the months that followed, there arose an occasion when Modi ji visited Mumbai, and it was orchestrated that we might meet; alas, my frail health prevented me from that opportunity.”

“Later, when fortune did permit our meeting in Delhi, I found in him the same humility, warmth, and genuine concern that had once steadied me from afar.”

On his 75th birthday, Saira Banu extended her wishes.

“And so, upon this day of his birth, I wish him my heartfelt wishes for enduring health, a long and noble life, and the strength to continue guiding our nation with the rare compassion and dignity which so greatly become him,” she wrote.

--IANS

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