New Delhi, March 19
Though he has met Prime
Minister Narendra Modi only thrice in the last 13 years, Prahlad Modi
enjoys a healthy relationship with his elder brother. He is hoping the
Narendra Modi government will sort out the problems dogging Public
Distribution System (PDS) shopowners like him in India.
Prahlad,
two years younger than Narendra Modi, who is 64, was in the national
capital to participate in a protest organised to highlight the woes of
ration shop keepers under the aegis of All India Fair Price Shop Dealers
Federation (AIFPSDF).
Prahlad, who is vice president of AIFPSDF,
says he visits Delhi often as part of his business or to lead the
protest of fair price shop owners. But he does not drop by at 7, RCR,
the prime minister's official residence, to say hello.
"We do not
meet or talk on phone frequently, but we are on good terms. In the last
13 years I have met my elder brother only thrice as he has renounced
the family life in the 70's. He has dedicated his life to the welfare of
the nation. We did not meet even when he came to Gandhinagar to seek
the blessings of our mother after his swearing in last year," Prahlad
told IANS in an interview.
"I am a shopkeeper. I do not enjoy any
special rights or privileges being the prime minister's sibling. Yes,
as a protocol I have been provided security," he said when asked if he
enjoys any perks as the prime minister's brother.
"I do not
hanker after any personal gains or seek the advantage of being the
brother of Narendra Modi. My parents have given me and other family
members such cultural values that we believe in our strengths," said
Prahlad, who owns a fair price shop in Ahmedabad.
Asked if he
keeps in touch with the prime minister's wife, Jashodaben, a retired
schoolteacher who lives in Unjha town of Mehsana district, he said they
meet "off and on".
"Our family enjoys a healthy relationship with
Narendra Modi's wife Jashodaden who lives in Unjha with her brother. We
meet her off and on," said Prahlad.
Narendra Modi is the third
of six siblings, with five of them being boys. Three brothers stay in
Ahmedabad and one in Gandhinagar.
Explaining the reasons for
which he has come to Delhi, Prahlad said that Narendra Modi as Gujarat
chief minister had helped mitigate the problems of fair price shop
owners in the state. The AIFPSDF is keen that Prime Minister Modi solve
the problem of ration shop owners in the country.
The ration shop
owners are demanding that the government now equate them with
government servants, and are seeking a "respectable" monthly wages of
Rs.25,000.
"We demand that the government consider us as
government employees and fix a salary so that we can look after our
family. At least they should give us Rs.25,000 per month as salary. PDS
dealers have to bear losses every month. I have to suffer a loss of
Rs.6,000 every month at my shop in Ahmedabad," he said, adding that he
had written to the Gujarat government in 2010 in this regard. "The
government should sit with us and chalk out a plan so that we are not
left behind," he said.
"We have strong hopes from the NDA
government led by Prime Minister Narendra-bhai Modi that they will give
an ear to our problems. Narendra Modi had done a lot for people in the
PDS sector while he was chief minister of Gujarat," he said.
He
also said that his visit to Delhi "should not be treated as a fight
against his elder brother". "I respect him a lot; he is like a father to
me. I am not against my elder brother but I am raising the woes of the
PDS dealers which should be sorted out," he added.
(Ashish Mishra can be reached at [email protected])
