'He Never Made Us Feel He Was The PM'

'Sometimes I wonder whether the meeting really happened. Everything seems like a dream from which I do not want to wake up.'

On the 11 th of October, a special Krishi programme was held at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi where 10 farmers from across the country got an opportunity to meet and talk to the prime minister of India.

Durai Selvam, a 44-year-old fisherman from the Andaman and Nicobar islands, was one among them.

"I spoke to the PM about deep sea fishing facilities because if we wanted a good harvest of tuna, we had to go deep into the sea," he tells Rediff's Shobha Warrier.

An unexpected call from the fisheries department

Two days before meeting the prime minister in New Delhi, I got a call from the local fisheries department to inform me that I was chosen by the PMO to go to Delhi to meet the PM.

I thought it was a prank call!

Who would think of going to Delhi and meeting the prime minister of the country when you cannot even get a chance to meet local politicians!

But the call was not a prank, it indeed was from the Andamans fisheries department!

Of course, I said I would like to grab the opportunity.

After that, everything worked like clockwork precision.

Reaching Delhi to meet the prime minister

The fisheries department had arranged my stay, and on the day of meeting the PM, I was taken to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute.

I was under the impression that I was the only person called to Delhi. When I reached there, I saw that there were 10 of us from different parts of India. I was the only person from the marine sector. The others had a chicken farm, a pig farm, etc.

I thought we would be taken inside the PM's office to meet the PM. They said, no, we could not go to the PM's office, and he would come to meet us.

We were told the prime minister would come by 10:30 but we had assembled much early. Then they instructed us on what we should do and where we should stand, etc.

I had wanted to take something from the Andamans to gift to the PM but I was strictly told that we could not carry anything with us.

Then the PM came...

We were all very nervous and tense as we had no experience of meeting a man holding such a high position. I thought I would not be able to open my mouth.

As we were told, we just stood where we were asked to.

But then the PM said, 'chaliye, chalte chalte baat karenge...'

That was a big icebreaker.

All of us started walking with him and somehow, he made us all relaxed and calm.

I was standing away from him and he called me to come closer.

Having a conversation with the PM

He said Namaste and then asked me in Hindi where I was from. Since I knew Hindi, I answered in Hindi that I was from the Andamans.

'Aap kya karte hain wahan?' he asked.

I told him I was from a family of fishermen for three generations, and that I had four fishing boats.

He recalled his visit to the Andamans and said he loved the islands.

He then asked me whether we had benefitted from the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana.

I told him, 'Sir, because of your programmes we go for fishing every day. Before that, only when we got ice, we went to the sea. And sometimes, it took two weeks for us to get ice. Till the scheme was implemented, there was no cold storage in the Andamans. Because of the subsidy offered by the scheme that the cold storages and ice plants started in Andamans. It has helped us fishermen a lot. We are grateful to you.'

He was so happy to hear that the scheme had helped the fishermen in the Andamans.

Andamans as the tuna export hub of India

It was then that he said we should concentrate on tuna as there is a huge market outside India.

The fact is there is no market for tuna in the Andamans. Everybody is talking about the Andamans as the tuna export hub but we have no idea how to handle tuna.

Yes, there was a lot of talk going on in the islands about deep-sea fishing of tuna and exports but nothing concrete has been done.

So, I told him that we needed a deep-sea fishing training facility, extension of the fishing harbour, a fish processing unit and subsidy in diesel.

If we have to export tuna today, we need to send it by air or ship and it is very expensive, beyond our means.

We do not have the proper infrastructure to do exports. For example, we need large cold storage plants. Right now, there is no place to store tuna.

We do not bring tuna from the sea because there is no local market and also, there is no cold storage facility.

We have to sell tuna for Rs 70 locally when the market price outside is Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000.

That's why I spoke to the PM about deep sea fishing facilities because if we wanted a good harvest of tuna, we had to go deep into the sea.

Of course, unlike in the other coasts of India, Andaman coasts have lots of tuna.

But unless we have proper infrastructure, tuna exports are not going to happen.

True blessing of God

I never ever imagined that the prime minister of the country would stand so close to us and talk to us normally.

He never made us feel that he was the prime minister and we were just ordinary people.

He spent time with each and every one of us asking questions, listening to whatever we had to say.

He was so normal and friendly with us that we felt relaxed. It was because he was so friendly that I could have a conversation with him without being nervous.

I have seen hundreds and thousands of people standing in line to have a glimpse of the prime minister and there I was standing next to him and talking to him!

I consider this opportunity as a true blessing of God.

A hero back home

Once I was back home, everybody wanted to talk to me and listen to my experience of talking to the PM.

I became a kind of hero with the media interviewing me, everybody wanting to take pictures with me, felicitating me with ponnada!

I couldn't believe this was happening to me.

Sometimes I wonder whether the meeting really happened. Everything seems like a dream from which I do not want to wake up.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff