Yogi meets mother for 1st time since becoming CM

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday visited his native village Panchur in Pauri distrct for the first time to meet his mother and other relatives after becoming the chief minister.

Tucked behind thickly-forested hills in the Pauri district, the village is barely visible from a distance on normal days, but it shimmered in soft light on the occasion of the visit of its most worthy son.

After visiting his village, Adityanath also tweeted a picture in which he is seen touching his mother's feet and taking her blessings.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister had not been able to attend even the funeral of his father Anand Bisth on April 21, 2020 in Haridwar, following his death in AIIMS, New Delhi a day earlier amid the country-wide Covid outbreak.

"I had the ardent wish to get a glimpse of my father at the final moment. However, following a sense of duty towards the state's 23 crore people during the COVID-19 pandemic, I could not do so," the chief minister had said, ruing his inability to attend his father's funeral.

"Adityanath, in fact, visited his village for the first time in several years to attend any family function there," an official said.

Though Yogi has been coming to Uttarakhand to attend political programmes and address public meetings, it is for the first time that he has visited his ancestral village.

He spent the night in his village and attended the hair tonsure ceremony of his nephew on Wednesday.

Surrounded by his relatives and acquaintances from neighbouring villages soon after arrival, Yogi first spoke to the younger members of his family and distributed chocolates to them.

The chief minister earlier became emotional while unveiling a statue of his spiritual guru Mahant Avaidyanath at Mahayogi Guru Goarkahnath Government College, Bidhyani, Yamkeshwar.

In his address at the function, he said he felt proud while unveiling the statue of his spiritual guru at the place where he was born but could not visit it after 1940.

Adityanath also honoured his school teachers by offering them each a shawl at the function and remembered those who were no more.