- Thursday, February 27, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi is a popular man not only with his country’s voters but also the members of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Recently, he paid a visit to Shimla, the capital of the poll-bound Himalayan province of Himachal Pradesh, and after a day of his visit, the wife of a local BJP leader recalled how Modi had taught her to cook the perfect ‘sabudana khichdi’ (a gluten-free Indian dish) in the late 1990s.
Modi was then in charge of the BJP’s Himachal Pradesh chapter.
Seema Sharma, the wife of Deepak Sharma, told the Press Trust of India that it was during the Navratra festival in 1997 when she had cooked the dish for Modi. But since it did not meet his expectations, the latter showed her how to cook it, she said.
That Modi has not forgotten about the Sharmas was evident when he asked Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur about Deepak Sharma during his visit to Shimla on Tuesday (31). Thakur spoke about it while addressing a rally at the Ridge Maidan.
Thakur said the Indian prime minister’s connection with ordinary BJP workers of the state can be understood from the fact that he enquired whether Sharma, a nominated councillor in the Shimla municipal corporation, still goes to a local temple on foot.
When PTI contacted Sharma, he was extremely happy to learn that Modi remembered him and enquired about him.
He told PTI that Modi used to visit his eatery Deepak Vaishav Bhojnalya and residence located at Middle Bazaar in Shimla when he was in charge of the state BJP during 1997-98.
Sharma added that Modi used to observe fast during the Navratras twice a year. During the first Navratras in March, the leader used to take only water, and during the second one before Dussera, he used to have fruits etc, he said.
He also recalled that Modi wanted to have ‘sabudana khichdi‘ during the second Navratras in 1997, and his wife Seema Sharma cooked for him, but it was not up to his expectation.
Modi was then staying at the Peterhoff Hotel, Seema Sharma said, adding that he had called up to speak to her and taught her how to cook the perfect ‘sabu dana khichdi’.
“Since then, whenever I cook ‘sabudana khichdi’, I cook it the way Modi taught me, “Seema said, expressing her gratitude to the prime minister for remembering her husband.”
Sharma said he had been paying visits to the famous Jakhu temple in Shimla daily for the last three decades and Modi had also gone with him 10-12 times during his stay in Himachal.
[With PTI inputs]
