Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mother Hiraba (100) passed away at the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre in Ahmedabad on Friday. Her last rites were performed at a crematorium in Gandhinagar’s Sector 30.
A bulletin from the hospital, where she was admitted on Wednesday after her health deteriorated, announced the news of her demise. She breathed her last at around 3.30 am.
Soon after performing the last rites of his mother, Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the flagging-off ceremony of the Vande Bharat express in West Bengal through video conferencing. PM Modi apologized to the people of Bengal for not being able to attend the program in person on 30th December 2022.
On her passing away, PM Modi said, “A glorious century rests at the feet of God… In Maa I have always felt that trinity, which contains the journey of an ascetic, the symbol of a selfless Karmayogi and a life committed to values.” He added, “When I met her on her 100th birthday, she said one thing which I always remember: work with intelligence, live life with purity”.
Heeraben is survived by five sons, Soma Modi, Pankaj Modi, Amrit Modi, Prahlad Modi, and Narendra Modi, and a daughter Vasantiben Hasmukhlal Modi. Prior to her husband’s death, she used to live in the family’s ancestral home in Vadnagar. Later, she shifted to Pankaj Modi’s home. PM Modi attended the last rites of his mother in Ahmedabad and immediately resumed his duties which displays his commitment to the nation.
West Bengal’s first Vande Bharat express was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through video conferencing. The train runs between Howrah and New Jalpaiguri Station. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to attend the program in West Bengal but he had to go to Ahmedabad to attend the last rites of his mother Heeraben who passed away early in the morning.
The new Vande Bharat express train departs Howrah at 6 am and reaches New Jalpaiguri station at 1:30 pm. The return journey, which starts after a stoppage of 1 hr, departs the north Bengal station at 2:30 pm and reaches Howrah at 10 pm. PM Modi also inaugurated the Joka-Taratala stretch of the Purple Line of the Kolkata Metro through video conferencing. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee was present at the event.
PM Modi during his address through video conferencing said, “I was supposed to come to West Bengal but due to personal reasons, I could not come there. I seek apologies from the people of Bengal.”
He added, “Central govt is making record investment to modernize Indian Railways. Now modern trains like Vande Bharat express, Tejas express, and Humsafar express are being made in India. In the next 8 yrs, we’ll see railways on a new journey of modernization.”
PM Modi also informed about many other projects in West Bengal that he is going to inaugurate. He also informed about various projects regarding the cleaning of the river Ganga, modernization of trains, and electrification of the rail tracks.
On October 7, 2001, as her son Narendra Modi took oath for the first time as the chief minister of Gujarat at the Helipad Ground in Gandhinagar, Hiraba Damodardas Modi, then 78 years old, sat in the front row among the audience. On seeing her, Anandiben Patel – who would go on to be a minister in that government and later become the chief minister of Gujarat and the governor of Uttar Pradesh – went to her and asked her to get on the stage. That was “the last public event” of Modi that Hiraba attended, the Prime Minister wrote in his blog post on June 18, 2022, when Hiraba entered her centenary year.
Born in Visnagar near Vadnagar, Mehsana in 1923, Hiraba has been described by all who knew her, as “simple, healthy and affectionate”.
In his blog, PM Modi says his late father Damodardas would also have celebrated his 100th birthday a week before his mother. “A few youngsters from the society had come home, my father’s photograph was kept on a chair, there was a kirtan, and Mother was immersed in singing bhajans while playing the manjeera. She is still the same – age may have taken a toll physically, but she is as mentally alert as ever,” Modi wrote.
