An otherwise tough-talking and business-friendly Prime Minister Narendra Modi was visibly emotional at one point while addressing top bankers at a function to celebrate Reserve Bank of India’s 80th anniversary here.
Mr. Modi was choked with emotion while drawing attention to the plight of poor rural housewives who regularly suffer at smoke-filled wood-fired hearths while cooking for their families.
The Prime Minister, who was speaking extempore in Hindi, controlled his emotions and paused twice before regaining his composure while describing how a surrendered subsidised gas cylinder by the rich can dramatically change the life for a poor household.
“In true financial inclusion, when you surrender your subsidised gas cylinder, that one will go to a poor person’s house where that housewife who has been burning fire wood to cook ….and rear her children amidst the polluting smoke…. will no longer have to do so. Tell me, is it not service?”
